With Duterte allies in 18th Congress, peace talks are doomed — Joma

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Top rebel leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison was convinced that the peace talks are now doomed because the majority of the upcoming members of the 18th Congress are die-hard allies of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“There is no chance for the resumption of peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration for so long as the tyrant Duterte is in power,” Sison, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder, said in a solicited reaction from his base in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Sison based his assessment from the result of the senatorial and congressional elections, which he alleged were rigged to ensure the victory of the administration candidates.

“As a result of his rigging the May 13 elections, Duterte has more than two-thirds majority in the Senate and is in a position to dictate the realization of his fascist dictatorship through charter change to bogus federalism and declare martial law nationwide at his whim,” he said.

Five reelectionist senators, along with four first-timers and three former senators were proclaimed Wednesday morning by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and would join the 18th Congress, which opens in July.

READ: 5 reelectionists, 4 new faces, 3 returning proclaimed senators

Majority of the newly elected members of the House of Representatives, including party-list representatives, were also candidates and allies of the Duterte administration.

With the result of the election, Sison expects the continued “underdevelopment of the country, unemployment, mass poverty, soaring prices, the plunder of natural resources and social wealth, mass murder with impunity, and the worst forms of deception.”

Sison predicts the resurgence of intensified protest actions “as in the time of fighting and defeating the Marcos fascist dictatorship.” (Editor: Eden Estopace)