Davao City—President Rodrigo Duterte said he would kill Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison once he returned to the Philippines and the peace negotiations with the rebel group fail.
During his speech in the inauguration of the Davao River Bridge here on Thursday, Duterte noted that Sison already agreed to go back to the Philippines for two months to revive the peace talks between the communist CPP-National Democratic Front and the government.
“I have invited Sison to come home, he has agreed. I gave him a window of two months, very small, make or break,” the President said.
Duterte stressed that he would personally escort Sison to the airport whatever the outcome of the peace talks that would end the longest-running communist rebellion in the world.
“I will allow him to go out, I will not arrest him because it’s my word of honor. But I will really tell him, [expletive], do not ever, ever return again to this country, I will kill you,” the President said.
Sison, being the founder of the CPP and its armed wing the New People’s Army, “has killed so many police and soldiers in the country” over more than five decades of war with the government, Duterte said.
He earlier asked Sison publicly to come back to the Philippines after the President decided to restart the peace negotiations, almost three months after he declared the NPA as a terrorist group.
Duterte was prompted to declare the NPA as terrorists after the series of atrocities and reports of extortion the President received from the different parts of the country.
Despite his announcement about the two-month window for negotiations, Duterte said he would not revoke his proclamation categorizing the NPA as a terrorist group.
The military recently captured a top NPA leader in the Davao Region, Elizalde Cañete alias “Ka Jinggoy,” at Don Carlos Hospital in Don Carlos, Bukidnon.
Cañete, captured on May 12, is the leader of Pulang Bagani Command 1, covering the entire Davao Region and some parts of Bukidnon. He replaced the late Leoncio Pitao alias “Parago,” who was killed in an encounter three years ago.
Cañete was also responsible for the burning of the Lapanday Box plant in Mandug, Davao City last year and the death of fish vendor Larry Timbal Buenafe.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said the city would file charges against Cañete after the atrocities he caused in the city, including the death of Buenafe.