President says cease-fire is over

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called off a 5-day-old cease-fire after communist guerrillas killed a government militiaman and failed to declare their own truce by a Saturday deadline, in an early setback to efforts to end one of Asia’s longest-raging rebellions.

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 a decades-long insurrection. Both sides had previously agreed to resume peace talks next month in Norway, and it was not immediately clear whether the talks would be affected.

Duterte said in a statement that he had ordered all government forces to go on high alert.

A regional rebel spokesman, Rigoberto Sanchez, accused the military of disobeying the president by continuing combat deployments and operations in the country’s south.