Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has declared a 10-day unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels to allow Filipinos to celebrate a “stress-free” Christmas season, two weeks after peace talks with the insurgents were formally scrapped. Duterte terminated intermittent peace talks with Maoist-led rebels in November. Ending the nearly half-century long conflict with the communists, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed, was among Duterte’s priorities when he took office in June last year. Also on Wednesday, Duterte threatened to resign if lawmakers would not approve a pay rise for the country’s uniformed personnel, a major plank of his campaign platform when he ran for the presidency last year.