Philippine president calls off truce after rebel attack

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called off a weeklong cease-fire after communist guerrillas killed a government militiaman and failed to declare their own truce by a Saturday deadline he had imposed.

It was the first irritant in what has been a blossoming relationship between Duterte, who calls himself a left-wing president, and the Maoist guerrillas, who have been waging one of Asia’s longest-running communist insurgencies.

Both sides had agreed to resume peace talks next month in Norway.

After withdrawing his cease-fire order Saturday evening, Duterte ordered all government forces to go on high alert and “continue to discharge their normal functions and mandate to neutralize all threats to national security, protect the citizenry, enforce the laws and maintain peace in the land.”

Duterte, who was sworn in on June 30, declared the government cease-fire Monday during his state of the nation address.

Two days later, however, rebels killed the militiaman and wounded four others in southern Davao del Norte province, angering Duterte, who sought an explanation for the attack and gave the insurgents until 5 p.m. Saturday to declare their own cease-fire.

The rebels failed to declare a truce by the deadline, but said they would make an announcement.

The militiamen had been recalled from a security mission following Duterte’s truce declaration and were traveling back to their patrol base when they came under rebel attack, the military said.