Duterte is ‘killing the peace talks’ — Joma Sison

President Rodrigo Duterte is killing the peace talks, exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison said on Tuesday after the chief executive insisted that the resumption of the peace negotiations is held in Manila.

“Duterte is killing the peace negotiations. He knows very well that the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) will never submit itself to negotiating in a venue under his control and manipulation,” Sison said in a statement.

Sison questioned the sincerity of the Philippine government, saying its end goal is to “destroy’ the New People’s Army (NPA.)

He said the desperate and futile strategy of the Duterte administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines consists of a “campaign plan to destroy the NPA before the end of 2018 by launching offensives and using ‘tokhang’ methods in communities.”

Duterte, he said, was trying to dictate to the NDFP, the political arm of the communist movement, “to negotiate in Manila and come under the control, manipulation, and intimidation of Duterte and [the] military.”

“If [the] NDFP refuses, the CPP and [the] NPA become targets of anti-terrorist campaign and proclamation of martial law or state of emergency nationwide,” he said.

But if the NDFP accepts the proposal to hold the talks in Manila, the negotiations, as well as persons including himself, will “become hostages for compelling NDFP capitulation as [a] result of [a] campaign plan to destroy the NPA before the end of 2018.

It was clear that the government is “determined to destroy the NPA, even if impossible, and to use and kill the peace negotiations one way or the other.”

“There is no choice for the revolutionary forces and people represented by the NDFP but to intensify [the] people´s war and carry out extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare, without any distraction from peace negotiations and any kind of ceasefire,” he said.

In a speech on Tuesday, Duterte insisted that the resumption of peace talks should be held in the Philippines.

READ: Duterte insists peace talks should be in PH

“The latest developments have exposed [the] Duterte regime as anti-peace and hell-bent on imposing [a] fascist dictatorship on the people,” Sison said.

He added that “the revolutionary forces and people represented by the NDFP are determined to fight the tyrannical regime of Duterte with various forms of struggle.” /ee

READ: Duterte wants talks in PH; Joma sees sabotage

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