BALANGA CITY, Bataan — Bishop Ruperto Santos on Friday lauded the ceasefire declaration of President Rodrigo Duterte with the communist rebels effective Dec. 24, 2017 to January 2, 2018.
“We appreciate the good intentions of government in exerting all efforts to forge peace. For peace is our best Christmas gift to one another,” the bishop of the Diocese of Balanga said.
His diocese covers 237 barangays of 11 towns and a city in the Bataan peninsula.
Santos, who is chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People, urged everyone to always work for peace and to give it (peace) a chance.
“The CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) must take advantage of this and respect the ceasefire. They should be sincere as partners for peace,” he said.
The Bataan prelate urged the communists to denounce violence and atrocities. “Armed struggles will only lead to division and death. It will never solve anything but will just create hatred and foment destructions,” he said.
Today, Friday, the rebel group also declared its own truce effective 6 p.m. of December 23 to 6 p.m. of December 26; and 6 p.m. of December 30 to 6 p.m. of January 2, 2018. (Ernie Esconde/PNA)
