‘Joma no longer welcome home’

President Rodrigo Duterte said Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison is no longer welcome to return to the Philippines.

In a speech during his visit at the Kuta Heneral Teodulfo Bautista Headquarters in Jolo, Sulu Friday the President stressed that he in no longer in the mood to welcoming the aging communist party leader.

“While before I told him he can come home, now no more,” he said, citing his earlier efforts to convince Sison and his National Democratic Front (NDF) to lay down their arms and give up the struggle.

“I love my country. If the safety of my country is at stake, I will choose my country. To the communists, to the Abu Sayyaf... I will not compromise,” Duterte added.

It could be recalled that on 21 March 2019, Duterte ordered the permanent termination of peace talks with the Left citing the insincerity of the communist group.

Duterte expressed outrage over the killings perpetrated by the CPP-NDF’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

“I am really angry with the NPA. They killed many innocent people. Even the half- brother of my father, who was just eating at home when he was gunned down…” he noted.

According to Duterte, no less than Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte witnessed the brutal killing of his uncle.

“Inday was only 16 that time when we visited the house of my uncle. She saw how he was killed. It’s really brutal. You’re just eating and you will be killed. That’s why I am angry,” he noted.

The President added that Sara’s campaign against the NPA will be stricter. “Inday is now a full colonel compared to me who was not even a honorary corporal. Believe me, she is stricter,” he added.

At the same time, Duterte reiterated his opposition on calls for Sara to run in the 2022 presidential elections.

“I am against calls for my daughter to run. She will just experience the hardship and I pity her, that’s why I said ‘no’”, Duterte maintained.