CPP founding chairman Sison is the real "violator of human rights": Panelo
Malacanang on Monday said the leader of the communist rebels, Jose Maria Sison, is the real "abominable violator of human rights".
"It is Jose Ma. Sison, as founder of the CPP-NPA, that aims to destroy the government that should rightfully get the dubious distinction of being the leading 'abominable violator of human rights'," Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
"Jose Ma. Sison as an ideologue should be the first one to know that the government that he wants to destroy will unleash its might might and sends its forces to annihilate those who seek to dismantle the democratic society in order to protect its people, maintain peace and order as well as assert its constitutional authority," he added.
The statement comes after Sison said President Rodrigo Duterte is the number one perpetrator of what he describes as state-sponsored terrorism. The CPP marks its 50th anniversary on Wednesday, December 26.
Panelo said the president's order to destroy the communist rebels is pursuant to his constitutional duty to protect the people.
"The CCP-NPA was established for the purpose of seizing political power from the constituted government," Panelo.
"In a span of fifty years, the CPP-NPA has waged a continuing rebellion and engaged in the killing of soldiers, policemen, civilians, destroying properties, extorting money from businessmen and landlords, kidnapping civilians and men in uniform, committing acts of terrorism, and even exterminating its own comrades without compunction in a cleansing purge of suspected traitors to their cause," he added.
Panelo said these atrocities being done by the rebels "violated the human rights of their victims, disobeyed the laws of the land, and infringed the Constitution with such impunity in order to destroy the democratic way of life enshrined in the Constitution as crafted by its framers and ratified by the sovereign people"
He said the state has the inherent right to defend itself and Duterte is mandated to protect the government and the governed.
The spokesman also called on members of the rebel group to return "to the fold of the law".
"The road to peace and reconciliation is more desirable than the road to bloodshed and destruction. There is honor in returning to the rule of law,"
On Saturday, Duterte ordered the military to "destroy" the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
"We do not subscribe to their ceasefire. Do not fight them, destroy them. Just destroy them. Who gave the order? I did. Let's boast sometimes. Just the five-star general," Duterte said in front of the 10th Infantry Division (10ID) at Camp General Manuel T. Yan Sr. in Mawab, Compostella Valley. Ella Dionisio/DMS
