Palace blasts Joma for calling Duterte a ‘broken record’

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang said Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison is an echo of repeated criticisms against President Rodrigo Duterte after calling the President a “broken record” for ending the peace negotiations.

“If, as Mr. Sison says, the President sounds like a broken record, the cantankerous steak chieftain of the National Democratic Front is like an echo with his repeated criticisms of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and this administration to stay politically relevant in the Philippines while maintaining and lapping up his lavish lifestyle in Europe,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Saturday.

Sison’s broken record comment came when Duterte officially announced that he is closing the doors of talks between government peace panel and its counterpart in the CPP.

READ: BREAKING: Duterte shuts door on peace talks: Talk to the next President

The CPP founder said Duterte needs the continuance of armed conflict as an “excuse to impose martial law nationwide and a full-blown fascist dictatorship through charter change to a bogus kind of federalism.”

However, Panelo said Sison only extended the peace process to stay in Netherlands and enjoy donations and grants by organizations while Duterte worked hard to achieve “genuine peace.”

“Unlike Mr. Sison who has prolonged the peace process so he can milk the situation and continue freeloading in the Netherlands as well as enjoying the donations and grants by socialist organizations to his group, President Duterte has tread the path that his predecessors did not dare take to achieve genuine peace,” the Palace official said.

Meanwhile, the Duterte administration will try to localize its peace talks so that Sison will not have control over the communist forces, Panelo said.

“The administration still seeks peace. We are just trying a different tact by localizing the peace talks as the concerns of rebel groups vary from one locality to another especially so that Mr. Sison appears not to have control over the communist forces on the ground,” he said.

Panelo also explained the communist groups end its acts of violence and destruction of public properties before the resurrection of peace talks.

“While Mr. Sison is right that the peace negotiation can still be resurrected by a new administration, which President Duterte himself said, the CPP/NPA/NDF must first demonstrate genuine sincerity in the peace process by laying down their arms and shun its acts of violence, which include murder, rape, extortion, and destruction of public infrastructure and private properties,” Panelo said.

Duterte already declared the termination of peace talks with the National Democratic Front-Communist Party of the Philippines-The New People’s Army (NDF-CPP-NPA) by signing Proclamation 360 in November 2017. /jpv

READ: Duterte signs Proclamation No. 360 terminating peace talks with NPA