JOSE Maria Sison’s rejection of the idea of holding the peace talks in the Philippines was expected, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Sunday.
He said what the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines was thinking or ranting about was immaterial because he was no longer leading the insurgents here.
“I consider Sison’s rejection and rant as just a noisy distraction, like the barking of a dog that is best ignored,” Lorenzana said in a statement.
He slammed Sison’s “illusion” of grandeur and control over the insurgents.
“Did he think that the government would stop just because the ‘mighty’ Sison rejects it? Fat chance, Mr. Sison,” Lorenzana said.
“Do you really think that you still hold sway over events here in the Philippines? Dream on, Mr. Sison. Hold on to your misguided dreams because they are all that’s left for you. The world has moved on while you continue to wallow in your delusions of grandeur.”
Lorenzana also slammed Sison for saying holding the peace talks here would be a waste of money.
“If the money given to the insurgents returning to the fold of the law to live normal lives with their families and become productive citizens in society is a waste of money, then we should waste money for these endeavors,” Lorezana said.
He said Sison was the one wasting money for spending the resources from the so-called “revolutionary taxation” to maintain his luxurious lifestyle in The Netherlands.
“That is a real waste of money,” Lorenzana said.
Earlier, Sison echoed the CPP’s remarks ignoring the government initiatives to hold the peace talks here.
“Duterte wants to negotiate with his own shadow. [The] so-called localized peace talks are an old discredited psywar tactic,” Joma had tweeted.
“It is a kind of racket, with the local political followers and military agents of Duterte pocketing the money for the fake surrenders.”
The CPP on Friday rejected President Rodrigo Duterte’s offer to hold the peace talks here, describing it as “pretend talks” that would go nowhere and only inspire corruption at the local level.