Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison should step down from his ivory tower and accept the government’s offer of reviving the peace talks instead, the Palace said on Sunday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo slammed Sison for immediately rejecting the “softened stance” of President Rodrigo Duterte on resuming peace negotiations.
“Instead of welcoming the President’s softening of his hardline stance on no peace talks with the local communists unless it puts a stop to the extortion, he (Sison) considers it as an insult to them,” Panelo said.
In a speech on Friday, Duterte said he would resume the peace talks with communist rebels if the NPA stopped its collection of revolutionary taxes, which he said was a form of extortion.
Sison, however, rebuffed the condition set by the President, saying the “people’s government… (needs) financial resources for administration and social programs.”
“Oh, they have a government? The armchair illusory rebel chieftain must be running berserk with his imagination. No wonder his ground forces no longer follow him. He has to wake up from his daydreaming lest he gets a nightmare that will cut short his bourgeoisie lifestyle in The Netherlands,” Panelo said.
“Sison must step down from his ivory tower and extend his hands for peace, for his own sake, for his followers, for the Filipino people, for his country he loves so well. To miss this golden opportunity will only reduce him to a historical footnote and thrown him into the dustbin of history,” he added.