Carlos said operations against members of the CPP-NPA have been suspended on President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to restore a ceasefire with the local armed Left that he declared last July 25, 2016. Before Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza left for Oslo, Norway, on Saturday for resumption of peace talks between the rebels and the government, he announced that President Rodrigo Duterte had declared an indefinite ceasefire, which took effect on Sunday. The mayor, together with Mayor Ed Pamintuan of Angeles City (Pampanga), was named as an adviser to the Philippine panel. The Norwegian government on Sunday night hosted a welcome dinner for the peace negotiators on the eve of the formal resumption of the peace talks at the Scandic Holmenkollen Park Hotel in Oslo. Bautista, a graduate of the National Defense College of the Philippines, specialized in the role of local governments in national security.

Source: Manila Times August 22, 2016 14:26 UTC