Duterte says NPA is a friend

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2019 06:01:52 +0000

Amid fresh government moves to revive the peace negotiations with the communist rebel group, President Duterte on Tuesday said he considers these rebels as friends.

Speaking at the oathtaking of new fire, jail, and Coast Guard officers in Malacañang, the President said he was not a communist but he has Left-leaning views of life.

“The New People’s Army magkaibigan man kami niyan that’s why they want to talk again. You know magkaibigan kami,” he said. “My views of life has always been Left. Hindi ako komunista pero ‘yung tingin ko sa land reform ganun,” he added.

Duterte, former mayor of Davao City, said he sympathizes with the people’s suffering because his family also had a “hard life” when he was young. He recalled that his family moved from Cebu to Mindanao to find greener pasture.

“Umalis kami tatay ko sa Cebu, wala naman kaming niyugan, wala naman kaming minahan  so he ventured to Mindanao, married a Mindanaoan. Tapos he went to Davao. It was a hard life,” Duterte said.

“Siguro about four years old pa ako 1948 something, I still remember distinctly the long ride Butuan going to Cagayan via Cotabato.  There were no roads yet na connecting Davao to Butuan to Bukidnon, anywhere. At the time, it was a long and winding road,” h
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