Palace: Communists have 'distorted' view of Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — The Communist Party of the Philippines has a “distorted perception” of President Rodrigo Duterte’s actions, Malacañang said Wednesday, after the group warned the president may face a fate worse than the Marcos dictatorship did.

 

In a statement released after the government scrapped the peace talks, the CPP said the New People's Army must “accelerate its growth” by stepping up its recruitment efforts. Duterte called off the negotiations after the rebels launched a series of attacks against government forces including members of the Presidential Security Group.

 

CPP claimed that the Duterte administration is “bound to face the Filipino and Moro people’s all-out resistance” and is “risking a fate worse than the detested US-Marcos dictatorship.”

 

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella disputed the CPP’s statement, saying Duterte had tried to talk peace with the rebels and to accommodate their demands.

 

“They have (a) distorted perception of what the president is doing. Basically, the president has been very open. He has actually engaged them… From where the president is coming from, he has actually bent over backwards in trying to accommodate them,” Abella said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

 

“Apparently, he doesn’t perceive that there is a commensurate response. So I don’t know about being worse or what, but the fact is, the president has been quite open and has actually engaged that party,” he added.

 

The government has yet to issue a formal notice terminating the peace talks.

 

Talks already bogged down in February after the NPA declared it would cancel a ceasefire with government over the failure to release political prisoners as they said Duterte promised to do. The NPA also accused security forces of occupying rebel-held barrios.

 

Even before the ceasefire was supposed to lapse, the NPA launched attacks against the government. This triggered a return to hostilities that led to on-again, off-again talks between the two peace panels.

 

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Despite the canceled peace talks, Abella said Duterte still trusts the Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and National Anti-Poverty Commission chief Liza Maza. The three were nominated by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which is negotiating with the government in the peace talks.  

 

The Makabayan bloc — party-list groups affiliated with national democrat group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan — are in the administration-led majority bloc at the House of Representative. Terry Ridon, a former Kabataan party-list representative, sits as chief of the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor.

 

“The Cabinet members and the negotiations are two different things… Up to this stage, as far as I can see, there is no conflict,” Abella said 

 

“They’re there. And as long as they’re there, we can assume that they still have his full trust. That is the assumption because no action has been taken against them as far as I know… What is important is they’re doing their job in their agencies and their departments,” he added.

 

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Abella also responded to CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison’s statement that Duterte should consult a psychiatrist because “he has a sick mind.”

 

The rebel leader, who was also the president's college professor, made the remark after Duterte told him to commit suicide because Norway could no longer shoulder his hospital expenses. Norway serves as the third-party facilitator of the peace talks.

 

“I believe those are really expanded statements,” Abella said.

 

Sison has also challenged Malacañang to release Duterte’s medical records after the president claimed that the CPP founder has colon cancer. Sison had said Duterte’s claim about his wealth was “imaginary.”

 

Abella maintained that Duterte is in the “best of health”

 

“Those are two different issues. The president has again and again declared… And we can see that he is pretty much in control of his physiology. He seems to be in the best of health,” the presidential spokesman said.

 

Asked if Malacañang is willing to disclose Duterte’s medical records, Abella said: “Up to this stage, I don’t know what the response is. But, you know, there’s really no need to do that. As far as I can see, there’s really no need to do that.”