‘Shoot me if I become a tyrant’

‘Joma stuck in history’

Malacañang on Monday downplayed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison’s call for the youth to hold protests against the supposed looming dictatorship under President Duterte.

“We don’t attach too much importance to Joma Sision. I hope he has enough grandchildren to heed his call,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said during a news conference.

“Problem with Joma Sision is he’s stuck in history. He never moved beyond the First Quarter Storm,” he added.

Roque was referring to Sison’s statement urging the youth to emulate the riots of the “First Quarter Storm” ( FQS) of 1970 against the Duterte administration.

“The student youth of today can and should launch huge mass marches and rallies in the National Capital Region and in the provinces, like during the First Quarter Storm ( FQS) of 1970,” Sison was quoted by reports as saying.

Sison was referring to the social turmoil in 1970, with included riots and demonstrations in late January to March of that year, that led to President Ferdinand Marcos’s declaration of Martial Law.

“With the signal act of the student youth, the rest of the people — workers, the peasants, women, youth of other sectors, cultural workers, professionals and religious — will participate in the mass-protest movement,” Sison said.

On Sunday, Duterte said that the communist movement had become irrelevant, and that the people had been questioning the sincerity of their cause.

Sison earlier confirmed that a phone conversation was set to happen between him and Duterte.

But Roque clarified that the conversation between Duterte and Sison was not a prerequisite for the resumption of the peace talks.

“It is not as if the President said he is willing to resume with peace talks after he talks to Joma Sison. What he said was the New humility,” Roque said.

The President classified the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as “terrorists” in December after terminating the peace negotiations between the government and the armed rebels the month before.

A court decision is needed under the Human Security Act of 2007.

When he assumed office in 2016, Duterte vowed to forge a political settlement with communists, even appointing people associated with the left to government posts as a goodwill measure.