Sison calls Duterte’s preconditions for resumption of talks ‘silly, humiliating’
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2019 10:39:06 +0000
THE Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) would rather intensify their armed struggle than follow President Rodrigo Duterte’s “silly and humiliating” preconditions for the resumption of peace talks.
CPP founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison on Thursday called Duterte “crazy” or “clowning” when he told Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd, chief government negotiator, in Cauayan, Isabela on Wednesday night that he would only talk peace if the NPA would drop its arms and stop extortion activities.
For Sison, the President’s preconditions were tantamount to letting the communist rebels “commit political suicide” before proceeding to the negotiating table.
“[Duterte] is practically mouthing the same rubbish by repeating preconditions that he dished out so many times before,” the self-exiled communist leader in The Netherlands said.
He added that Duterte, whom he had a close friendship with before, has no intention at all of engaging the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political wing of the CPP, with “serious” peace negotiations, since the Chief Executive “continues to be hell-bent on keeping the peace negotiations terminated.”I
n 2017, Duterte issued a proclamation officially terminating the peace negotiations with the communists and just days after, declared the CPP and the NPA as terrorist organizations.
Sison and Duterte have been in a word war, with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also taking a swipe at the communist leader for insisting the resumption of the peace talks with the government. DEMPSEY REYES
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