by Robert B. Roque, Jr.
The word war between President Duterte and his former professor, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, continues to heat up.
Sison accused Duterte of lying about his intention to create a coalition government with communist and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) guerrillas if he is elected president. This came out in a report in a major daily in December 2014. The CPP leader said the President is a consistent political swindler who depends heavily on lying.
He also accused the President’s family of alleged involvement in large-scale drug smuggling. He claimed the Duterte regime reportedly protects the biggest drug lords and protectors at the level of governors and generals which worsened the problem on illegal drugs.
Sison’s disclosures are truly colossal but may not necessarily be true and merely come from a sour-graping man who found himself at the losing end of a very important deal.
Earlier, Duterte signed a proclamation ending the peace talks with the CPP. He also ordered dozens of rebel leaders he freed temporarily last year to surrender.
The biggest blow, perhaps, to the CPP founder’s ego was the President’s warning that Sison would not be allowed to enter his native land and would be arrested upon his return.
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Firing Line finds it hard to imagine the President aligning himself with illegal drugs syndicates, considering his apparent resentment against narcotics which led to a campaign that claimed the lives of thousands of users and pushers since last year.
Duterte also denied earlier allegations that his son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, was part of a Chinese drug triad. He allegedly ordered authorities to kill his son if he was caught linked to drugs.
New People’s Army (NPA) attacks against government are expected after the scrapping of peace talks. But are these rebels hiding in the jungles and mountains ready to go on an all-out war and still blindly follow the whims of their leaders who are living in luxury abroad?
Undoubtedly, the ideologies being espoused by local communists are no longer in keeping with the times. They have remained as Maoists even when the People’s Republic of China has already moved on and left them.
Thousands of combatants and civilians have perished and hundreds may soon follow in this five-decade long communist insurgency.
Don’t mind the Duterte-Sison word war. Stop the hostilities today.
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