Roque tells communist rebels to move on, abandon insurgency

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC

China, long suspected of aiding Philippine communist rebels, is now a capitalist country from which the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), or its armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA), could no longer expect support, a spokesperson for President Duterte said.

“You’ve been left behind. China has left you behind,” said former human rights lawyer Harry Roque, now Malacañang spokesperson.

The rebellion being waged by CPP and NPA, Roque said, “has gone on for so long that China has become the best in capitalism” but Philippine communist rebels “are still Maoists.”

“What is that?” Roque said. “Move on,” he said, addressing himself to communist rebel leaders.

Roque said Chinese communists, who had preached the principles of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, were now “billionaires” who have turned their backs on communism after economic reforms in the 1980s led to “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Roque said local communist leaders were still stuck to Marxist-Leninist-Maoist principles. Communist rebels were adhering to a guerrilla strategy attributed to Mao of surrounding the capital from the countryside.

Now that China is a capitalist country, Roque said local rebels would no longer have a patron to turn to. “Who will you report to?” Roque said.—PHILIP C. TUBEZA WITH A REPORT FROM FRINSTON LIM