FILIPINO communist rebels have warned peace talks with the government will fail unless President Rodrigo Duterte honours his pledge to cut military ties with the US.

The first reports from Wednesday’s New People’s Army (NPA) press conference held under top secret conditions at a guerilla encampment in the Sierra Madre mountains surfaced yesterday.

Regional commander and spokesman Jaime Padilla told a small group of reporters escorted to the camp: “While the Duterte government hasn’t abrogated all these treaties, the New People’s Army will have no reason to enter into a friendship or alliance with him.

“That’s not negotiable because as long as the US military has a presence, the imperialist influence on Duterte’s government will remain.”

The NPA is the armed wing of the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines, whose representatives entered peace talks with the government in Norway in August.

Mr Padilla also criticised Mr Duterte’s policy of closer relations with China and Russia.

“They hide behind what we call a communist [facade] or socialism but essentially, and in their core, they are imperialist nations, which control parts of the world,” he said.

“Even if it’s China that controls us, we’re not free, and we should fight their control on us.”

Mr Duterte’s rise to power was celebrated among the rebels due to his anti-US rhetoric, seemingly pro-poor stance and appointment of two left-wing ministers to the cabinet.

But the rebels have also condemned his extreme anti-drugs measures including executing thousands of drug addicts who they consider to be victims of the drug trade and not criminals.

“We support Duterte but not 100 percent,” said a 24-year-old rebel to reporters. “He’s projecting himself as anti-US and pro-poor but that’s still mostly rhetoric. If the problems persist, the revolution will go on.”

Coincing with the conference, Armed Forces chief General Ricardo Visaya said that Washington had agreed to cancel five military exercises planned for next year, including two major naval drills.

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