MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is a much bigger threat to the lives of the people — and an even bigger terrorist — compared to armed communist rebels, according to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
CPP said in a statement on Tuesday that it was Duterte’s incompetency in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, and not the armed struggle, which has led to numerous deaths and a massive health crisis.
The President said on Monday night’s briefing that the country’s number one problem today is terrorism and that the New People’s Army (NPA) — CPP’s armed wing — is much of a bigger threat compared to extremist organizations like the Abu Sayyaf Group.
“In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Duterte has prove(n) himself incompetent and insensitive to the plight of the people, a demagogue who has not only failed to manage the pandemic, but also devastated the economy and caused widespread impoverishment of the people,” CPP information officer Marco Valbuena said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic will continue to spread in the country and threaten the lives of millions of people because of Duterte’s corruption and priority for debt-driven infrastructure projects, failure to allocate enough funds to raise the capacity of the health system and obsession with perpetuating itself in power through military-oriented solutions and with the anti-terror bill,” he added.
During his briefing, Duterte remarked that he has asked the military to fight it out with the communist rebels instead of being killed, as the NPA is taking advantage of the pandemic.
“Terrorism is number one on our list. Actually the number one threat to the country, hindi Abu Sayyaf, hindi ‘yong mga terrorista of no value, itong high-value targets, ito ‘yong mga komunista,” the Chief Executive said.
INQUIRER.net sought the side of Malacañang on CPP’s recent statements, but presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the communist party is not worth responding to.
“Wala po. They’re not worth responding to,” Roque said in a text message.
Roque also clarified earlier that COVID-19 remains the top menace in the country today.
Valbuena said Duterte has been promoting violence using the military, as several attacks in both in urban areas and the countryside — under the drug war and the counterinsurgency program — have been done supposedly under the guise of law enforcement.
“For close to four years now, Duterte has repeatedly proved it is he that is the country’s biggest terrorist. He has used the AFP and the entire state machinery to unleash wanton terror against the people in the form of mass killings in his fake drug war, massacres, extrajudicial killing of activists, aerial and artillery bombardment in the vicinity of rural communities,” he claimed.
Many people, including Vice President Leni Robredo, have questioned the Duterte administration’s prioritization of anti-terrorism efforts, like the passage of the Anti-Terror Bill, amid the ongoing pandemic.
As of Monday, the country still has one of the highest COVID-19 cases in the Southeast Asian region, only behind Indonesia and Singapore. On Tuesday, COVID-19 cases in the country jumped to 31,825 including a record-high 1,150 new cases.
Recently, there have been several attacks from both sides that are being investigated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for possible abuses.
On Monday, CHR said it would probe an incident in Palapagan town where a family was wounded in a counterinsurgency operation allegedly carried out by the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion.