President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday claimed that his son, Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, was harassed by gay New People’s Army rebels—something that Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison immediately rejected.
In his speech in Biñan, Laguna, over the weekend, Duterte said his son was “abused” by gay NPA rebels during the turnover of the two captured soldiers and six militiamen in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur.
He said Sebastian was “kissed” by four NPA rebels during their stay in the rebel group’s hideout last Tuesday.
With nothing to back his claim but his son’s narrative, Duterte surmised that 40 percent of NPA soldiers were gay.
“Did you know that 40 percent of NPA fighters are gay?” He told the attendees of the PDP-Laban campaign sortie in Laguna last Saturday.
Sebastian, together with former presidential top aide Christopher “Bong” Go, went into the wilds of San Juan village to conduct a formal ceremony for the turnover of the prisoners.
Asked how the turnover went, the presidential son told his father that he was smooched on the cheeks by the communist rebels.
“Four NPA rebels brought me to an area filled with coconut trees. All of them kissed me,” the President quoted his son as saying.
“So, you were abused? He said, ‘Yes, everyone kissed me.’ That’s okay. You now know how it feels to be kissed by gays. It feels better. That flirt!” Duterte said.
According to Duterte, he was really wondering why the communist rebels wanted Baste to lead the turnover of the captured soldiers.
“I was wondering why they wanted to turn over the captured soldiers to Baste… It turned out, those fools were after Baste,” he said without providing any details about the release.
Sison, however, found the President’s narrative difficult to believe.
“In making a joke, Duterte has obviously invented the story that gays in the NPA brought his son Baste to the woods to be subjected to kissing, mashing and other acts amounting to molestation,” Sison said in a statement.
He said the NPA observes a “strict rule of discipline” against sexual molestation and taking sexual liberties against the will of others.
He, however, noted that if the armed rebels had indeed molested or took liberties with Duterte’ son, then “they would face disciplinary action.”
“It is up to the NPA command concerned to inform us how Baste was treated,” he said.
Sison also slammed Duterte for claiming that four out of 10 communist rebels were gay, emphasizing that it was the “most unbelievable part of the joke.”
“How can he make such a survey finding when his military and police minions cannot locate the thousands of Red commanders and fighters in more than 110 guerrilla fronts? These armed revolutionaries reveal their momentary location only when they are already ambushing or raiding his armed minions,” Sison said.
“At any rate, Duterte is again exposing his misogynist and anti-gay character with his macho kind of joke.”
Sison then admitted that the revolutionary forces accept LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgenders) into their ranks.
“The position of the CPP and the revolutionary movement has always been not to discriminate against women and the LGBT in the recruitment of fighters by the NPA,” he said.