FILE PHOTO (davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has compared the New People’s Army, the armed-wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, to that of the Islamic State, saying the former are revolutionaries with objectives unlike the latter that is “dedicated to the destruction of mankind.”
“I’d like to just make a statement na itong ISIS is actually a revolution of all sorts. It is a revolution with no objective. It has nothing to do with Islam or Christianity or Judaism. But it is an activity that is dedicated to the destruction of mankind,” Duterte said in his speech on Thursday at the Philippine National Police Regional Office in Camp Quintin M. Merecido, Catitipan, Buhangin, this city.
The President said that ISIS’ activities are just to “destroy and kill.”
“And that there is no redeeming value of the ISIS. Wala talaga akong nakitang ni kakusing na — even a smallest adjective there that could sound like a praise, wala. Basta sila, patay lang, behead, decapitate people. Kaya mas matindi ito,” Duterte said.
“And that puts us in a very grave danger. If I were you, there are so many materials about ISIS. It’s about time that you should really be — to get a firsthand knowledge of what we are fighting,” Duterte pointed out.
Duterte branded the Islamic terrorist group as more brutal when compared to NPAs.
“Mas ano ito, brutal ito 100 times over….I’m not praise — this is not a brief for the NPAs. Pero ang NPAs hindi na gumaganon [But the NPAs are not doing that]. And they are just revolutionaries and I’ve been…,” he said.
During his term as Davao City’s local chief executive, Duterte said he has his share of experience of going to boondocks to retrieve soldiers and police men who were held captive by the communist rebels.
“I used to do that when I was mayor….Their leaders say that they are ready to cooperate and to — and they call for a cessation of hostilities because of the fighting in Marawi, which actually we have a common enemy kasi ayaw rin nila ‘yung mga terorista [because they don’t want the terrorists],” the President said.
“And I’m sure it’s really for a good reason,” Duterte said, referring to the gesture of NPA to join the fight against the local terrorist Maute group.
Read related story: NDFP orders Moro group, NPA, to defend vs Maute, Abu Sayyaf
The Duterte administration has engaged with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in a series of peace talks but the government peace panel last May had finally sealed the fate of the fifth round of talks when they withdrew their participation in the supposed peace negotiations on May 27.
Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza said the government will maintain its position not to participate in the fifth round of the peace talks with communists as it saw “no compelling reason.”
Recently, CPP said the resumption of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines may happen in August or September this year.
This comes after the CPP acknowledged the statement of the GRP negotiating panel chief Silvestre Bello III expressing the government’s commitment to proceed with the peace negotiations with the NDFP. (davaotoday.com)
