Duterte offers key gov’t positions to CPP

Presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte offered the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) several key positions if it decides to join his government.

“What I will offer the Communist Party of the Philippines if they decide to join the government are DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform), DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), Labor…DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” he said during a televised press conference in Davao City on Monday.

Duterte said the group, which has been waging the longest-running communist insurgency in Asia, is “the most vigilant group in the Philippines about labor.”

Later in the press briefing, Duterte said the CPP’s military arm, the New People’s Army, should also realize that “(he is) with government and (he is) also the enemy.

“But I offer my hand in peace to (Jose Maria) Sison and to the rest and we can talk,” he said.

Sison was Duterte’s former professor at the Lyceum of the Philippines University.

The tough-talking mayor promised to visit Sison in the Netherlands, where he is seeking political asylum, to talk about the prospects of peace.

READ: Joma, Digong set meeting in Europe

“I mentioned the position that are available to you and you can join several positions in the bureaus and government corporations…provided you are qualified, provided you have the educational bearing to have the job,” Duterte said.

READ: Duterte enumerates choices for agency heads, PNP 

RELATED VIDEOS