UPDATE - Duterte gives communist rebels truce deadline, or else

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) - President Rodrigo Duterte is reported to have given communist rebels behind an attack on government militiamen until Saturday to answer why they broke the unilateral ceasefire he declared during his first State of the Nation address.

GMA News quoted Duterte as saying that the president has set until 5 p.m. Saturday (2100GMT Friday) as the deadline for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing the New People's Army (NPA) to declare a truce and explain how the ambush occurred.

The incident took place as the president's peace adviser prepares for peace talks scheduled for Aug. 20-27 in Oslo between the two sides, to bring an end to a 40-year insurgency

"I am asking you, are you ready to declare ceasefire or not? I will wait for the declaration at five in the afternoon tomorrow, Saturday? If I don't get the word from you, I will lift the order of ceasefire," GMA News quoted Duterte as saying, while he attended a memorial service for the slain militiaman at military headquarters in Davao del Norte on Friday.

Luis Jalandoni, chair of the Communist Party's National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiating panel, had earlier asked for more time, saying it will take "a day or two" to really know what occurred.

"What happened there in that exact incident, we have to find out and we stated that we cannot get it in such a short time of a few hours. We have to get the report from the side of the NPA in the area so that it will be an accurate check on what really happened," Jalandoni told ABS CBN.

NDF peace panel negotiator Fidel Agcaoili also noted that the NPA has been on "active defense" since July 26 -- the day after Duterte's address -- while waiting for the operational details of the ceasefire declaration.

Meanwhile, a senior NPA leader has said that the army -- not the NPA -- violated the ceasefire agreement.

In a statement issued to reporters in Davao, Aris Francisco said the 72nd Infantry Battalion and armed members of the Alamara paramilitary group were on their way to attack NPA units when the rebels ambushed them Wednesday.

"The fascist AFP deceived its own Commander-in-Chief by saying that the NPA violated the unilateral ceasefire when it waylaid the PDOP [Peace & Development Outreach Program] troops who were returning to their detachment in Sitio Patil, Barangay Gupitan," Francisco was quoted as saying.

"Nothing can be so farther from the truth," he underlined.

It was not immediately clear if Francisco's statement would concur with the findings of Jalandoni's investigation.

In his address Monday, Duterte said he aims for a "permanent and lasting peace" before his term ends in 2022.

The CPP welcomed the declaration, describing it as a positive boost to the upcoming peace talks, but adding that the release of political prisoners should follow immediately.

Since March 1969, the NPA has been waging one of Asia's longest running insurgencies, which -- according to the military -- has claimed more than 3,000 lives over the past eight years.

Duterte has been making peace overtures to its political wing since he started to campaign for this year's presidential election