Self-exiled communist leader Jose Maria Sison and President Rodrigo Duterte FILE PHOTOS / INQUIRER.net
The raging word war between President Rodrigo Duterte and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chair Jose Maria Sison continued on Wednesday.
This time, it was Sison’s turn to hit back at Duterte, whom he advised to see a psychiatrist.
“I pity him and I am tempted just to let him go because what he says against me is patently baseless and comes obviously from a sick mind,” Sison said in a Facebook post.
“But I still have to answer him to prevent him from misleading the public and rousing them the wrong way. At any rate, he has to look after his mental health and consult with a professional psychiatrist,” Sison added.
After saying that Sison has colon cancer, Duterte advised him to just commit suicide so he would not be a burden to the Norwegian government. The communist leader fled to Europe after the failed peace talks in 1987.
READ: Duterte reveals Joma Sison has colon cancer
“I am amused when Duterte advises me to commit suicide. I will never accept nor give him such an advice. But what I suggest to him is to consult a professional psychiatrist to take care of his mental health,” Sison said.
READ: Duterte tells Joma: Commit suicide
Their heated verbal exchange erupted anew when Duterte claimed during his second State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday that Sison has colon cancer.
The communist leader also belied Duterte’s allegation that the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) was paying for his treatment, saying his medical treatment was mostly paid by a Dutch private foundation.
“Now, let us correct his false claims against me and expose his lack of factuality. He seems to be under the impression that I stay most of the time in Norway and get my medical treatment there. No, I stay most of the time in The Netherlands,” Sison said.
“It is a Dutch private or NGO charitable foundation that pays for my medicine and medical treatment to the extent of more than 98 percent in the last 10 years or so.”
There were only a few “minor” instances that he said the RNG helped him get diagnostic attention and medicine from a clinic and its pharmacy in Oslo, Norway.
At the end of his Facebook post, Sison questioned Duterte’s mental stability.
“First, he threatened to kill me. Now, he tells me to commit suicide. Is this another symptom of a malady in which the sick person enjoys boasting of having police units and death squads that commit extrajudicial killings with impunity and with monetary rewards per victim?” he asked. JPV