Communist leader calls Duterte’s dare to come home
Sison says he will return to fight president, the way he fought Marcos in the 1970s
The founding leader of the 46-year old Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) said he would call the dare of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to come home, adding he would do so to fight the leader whom he accused of being a puppet of United States imperialism.
CPP-NPA founder Jose Maria Sison said in his Facebook post he would call the dare of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, that he should return to the Philippines “to fight the Duterte puppet regime of US imperialism”.
He will do so if the CPP-NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF), CPP-NPA’s negotiating arm with the Philippine government since 1992, see this move as necessary, said Sison.
If the plan materialises, Sison said, “That means surmounting my being in the same old age bracket as Duterte and evading the constant surveillance by the United States, Dutch, European and Philippine reactionary intelligence agencies.”
‘Sober up’
His remarks were in reaction to Duterte, who criticised Sison in the wake of six police officers being killed in an operation in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, central Philippines.
“If you are truly a revolutionary leader, my God, come home and fight here,” said Duterte who compared Sison’s good life in Utrecht with NPA members who live in far-flung mountainous villages where there are no government services.
Giving Duterte advice on how to behave and why he should be a peacemaker with the CPP-NPA-NDF, Sison said the president should “sober up” and allow the government panel to “seriously negotiate” with leftist rebel leaders.
“At his ripe old age of 72, he should not try to project an image of a strutting young fighter at my expense. He should sober up and allow his negotiating panel to seriously negotiate with the NDFP negotiating panel and make agreements on social, economic and political reforms that lay the basis of a just and lasting peace for the benefit of the Filipino people,” Sison said.
Criticising Duterte, a selfproclaimed socialist and peace maker, Sison said, “The way he continues to talk he really hates to engage in peace negotiations with the NDF.”
Reminding Duterte to have a sense of time, Sison said, “I must remind Duterte that we are well past the age of retirement in the NPA and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). At any rate, I choose the battlefield where I fight and the types of battles that I wage.”