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| Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte |
By Alexis Romero
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.
Read the full story at PhilStar