The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Sunday slammed the government’s cancellation of peace negotiations, saying the decision was made to allow the Armed Forces of the Philippines to mount bigger offensives against the rebel group.

“By calling off the scheduled peace negotiations with the NDFP, Duterte aims to give the AFP more time to complete its military campaign plan for 2018 of mounting bigger offensives under Oplan Kapayapaan in the hope of crippling the NPA and inducing the NDFP to negotiate a surrender,” the CPP said in a statement.