‘NPA, not CIA, source of threat to President’

When it comes to threats to the life of President Duterte, the Philippine National Police chief prefers to cast a suspicious eye on the communist New People’s Army (NPA), not the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Denying he was dying, Mr. Duterte said in Cebu City on Tuesday night that if he would die, it would be through assassination by the CIA, which he accused of tapping his cell phone.

There was no comment from the CIA or from the US Embassy in Manila on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters about possible “sources of threat” to the life of Mr. Duterte during a news conference on Wednesday, PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde pointed to the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), as the only group that posed danger to the life of the President.

Scrapped peace talks

“What we know is the CPP-NPA may be angry because of the peace negotiations that bogged down, and the adoption instead of localized peace talks,” Albayalde said.

“We take it as a [presumed] source of threat not only [to] the President’s security but also [to] the security clusters of this administration,” he added. —JAYMEE T. GAMIL