Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas yesterday accused rival Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of being behind the alleged harassment of his supporters on Panay island by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.
In a statement, Roxas said the LP-led Daang Matuwid Coalition received information that some mayors in Western Visayas who were openly supporting his candidacy were “being harassed and intimidated” by communist insurgents.
He said the mayors were given letters warning them against campaigning for Roxas and the rest of the administration ticket.
“I know the source of these threats because I am the only candidate who has stated that I will never tolerate the harassment… of the NPA,” Roxas said.
“And I know as well that their supporter, who is no other than Mayor Duterte, is behind this,” he said.
In previous interviews, the tough-talking mayor bragged about being a supporter of the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines and claimed that he has maintained close ties with ranking officials of the Maoist rebel group.
But he said he was a “socialist” and “not a communist.”
Roxas noted that Duterte also openly urged businessmen to pay revolutionary taxes and for politicians to settle the permit to campaign fees being imposed by the NPA to avoid trouble.
“Let me declare to all that I will not tolerate these practices. We will use the full force of the law—not the lethal force—so that we can protect our democracy,” he said.
He then reminded the Davao mayor that the NPA posed the “ultimate challenge to our democratic system and way of life.”
“Communism is dictatorship,” Roxas said. “And we know who is demonstrating the style of a dictator in public today. I will not allow this. I will fight it because our democracy, our freedom, our economic system, is important.”