NDFP denies making a demand for a coalition gov’t

Contrary to claims by some government officials, the communist rebels said they have never demanded a coalition government.

“For the record, the NDFP has never put forward any demand for a coalition government,” National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) spokesperson Fidel Agcaoili said Wednesday.

“This has been clarified several times by Prof. Jose Maria Sison to the GRP and the Third Party Facilitator, the Royal Norwegian Government, since October 2017,” he added.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana claimed that the ongoing agreements with the rebels would “lay down the foundation of power sharing towards coalition government.”

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison was also criticized by Interior officer-in-charge Eduardo Año and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque last week after he said that they would rather focus on President Rodrigo Duterte’s ouster and prepare for the peace talks with the next administration.

Sison later clarified that they were not terminating the peace talks.

“At any rate, it looks like the orchestrated lies and attacks of Lorenzana, Año, and Roque against Prof. Sison have sounded the death knell on the peace talks under the Duterte regime. The peace spoilers seem to have won the day!” Agcaoili said.

“It was during the time of Noynoy Aquino when Atty. Alex Padilla under then OPAPP Ging Deles raised the specter of a coalition government,” he said.

“So, an allegedly anti-Aquino regime has adopted the false narrative of its arch enemy to waylay the peace talks.” he added.

The peace talks between the government and the communist rebels were originally scheduled on June 28 was cancelled after the President decided to hold more public consultations. /ee