Lorenzana says CPP-NPA ‘pretending to be fighting for the people’

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday taunted the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which marked its 51st anniversary.

“On CPP/ New People’s Army (NPA): What are you celebrating? The death of many and the billions of destroyed properties? Or the billions you extorted?” he said in a message to reporters.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves pretending to be fighting for the people. You are just a bunch of killers, arsonists, and extortionists,” he added.

In his anniversary message, CPP founding chair Jose Maria Sison said President Rodrigo Duterte was “obsessed” in destroying the revolutionary movement “in order to please US imperialism and the local reactionary classes.”

Sison also claimed that the efforts of Duterte to destroy the CPP and the revolutionary mass movement have failed.

READ: Joma Sison says Duterte administration ‘going downhill to hell’

Early this week, Duterte declared a holiday truce in response to the recommendations of the government peace panel and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines to cease fighting for the holiday season.

But hours after the holiday ceasefire commenced Monday, suspected communist rebels ambushed policemen and soldiers in separate attacks in Iloilo and Camarines Norte provinces.

Several groups like Hands off of our Children, League of Parents of the Philippines, and Citizen Crime watch staged protests in various areas across the Philippines also on Thursday to condemn the atrocities of the CPP-NPA.

Edited by KGA