By GENALYN KABILING
President Duterte has slammed communist leader Jose Maria Sison’s arrogance, saying if he refuses to talk peace with the government, then so be it.
The President said he has tried to talk peace with the communists but criticized Sison for pompous stance against the proposed negotiations in the country.
“I said I will talk to the enemies of the state, I tried with Sison. P***** i** sobrang yabang naman ng … Ayoko hindi ko na pi-nansin,” the President said during a recent assembly with top security officials in Pasay City.
“Ayaw mo? Eh di huwag. Sino ka ba?” Duterte added.
The President recently compared communist rebels with robots for following a “bankrupt ideology.”
Duterte instead urged the rebels to surrender rather than fight the government for another 50 years. He promised to provide the rebels with jobs and housing benefits if they return to the fold of law.
The President recently laid down some conditions prior to the resumption of the peace talks with the communist rebels, including holding the negotiations in the country instead of abroad. The communist rebels must also agree to a ceasefire and stop collecting revolutionary taxes for the revival of the talks.
Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines, however has rejected the President’s fresh demand to resume the peace negotiations in the country, saying it was risky for the rebel negotiators. He reportedly said they would rather talk peace to the country’s next leader and join the ouster moves against Duterte.
After the talks with the communist leaders bogged down, the government decided to hold localized peace talks with the rebels instead.
