Esperon: No problem working with KMP chair, UP prof

Retired general Hermogenes Esperon.  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY – Retired general Hermogenes Esperon, the incoming national security adviser of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, said he does not have a problem working with the progressive members in Duterte’s Cabinet.

In an interview after Duterte announced his appointment as national security adviser here, Esperon, the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff of then President Gloria Arroyo, said he does not see them as insurgents.

Esperon made the statement when asked about working with Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chair Rafael Mariano and University of the Philippines Professor Judy Taguiwalo, who were picked by Duterte as his Agrarian Reform Secretary and Social Welfare Secretary, respectively.

They were nominated to the Duterte Cabinet by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Duterte had opened some of his Cabinet posts to the Left in a bid to resuscitate the  peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines.

“Unless you have the view that they are insurgents then you have a problem because we have repelled the anti-subversion law,” Esperon said, adding that even progressives can join the legislative system through the party-list.

“What’s really wrong with working with them?” he added.