{UAH} Duterte no longer keen on peace talks with Reds 0 Twitter

Duterte no longer keen on peace talks with Reds

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BY CATHERINE S. VALENTE, TMT ON JULY 8, 2018President Rodrigo Duterte has declared that he was no longer inclined to pursue peace talks with communist rebels, given that intelligence services discovered a supposed plan by the insurgents to remove him from office by October.

"Sabi naman ni Sison, I will not last three years. Kaya ang sabi ko kay Sison ngayon, 'Ayaw ko na makipag-usap sa inyo kasi sabi ninyo three years na lang pala ako dito. So wala na akong time makipag-usap sa inyo. Bahala na kayo diyan [Sison said I will not last three years so I told Sison now, 'I don't want to talk to you because you said I'd only last for three years. I have no time to talk to you. It's up to you],'" Duterte said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the National Science and Technology Week in Davao City on Friday.

Sison is Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

"Sabi nila [They said] instead of fighting, they'll just use their energies to oust Duterte. Ah okay lang kung 'yun ang ginusto ng tao [That's fine with me if that's what the people want]. I am ready to be ousted pero, fight muna tayo [but let's fight first]," the President said.

He added that he prefers to go to war with the communist rebels first after Sison said he would be ousted in three years.

The President said he was ready to become an ordinary citizen if removed from office, if this was part of his destiny.

"Alam mo ba ang sabi niya [Do you know what Sison said]? 'Duterte will not last. Until three years.' O 'di fine. If that is my destiny, I will accept it. There's no problem with it. Destiny is God. That is what God wants me to be, a civilian after three years, according to Sison, the clairvoyant of the Communist Party of the Philippines," he added.

Duterte noted that Sison has been fighting for 50 years and "we were about to begin another 50 years."

He insisted that he prefers to go to war than give in to the demand of the rebel group for a coalition government.

"Abogado ako. Binabasa ko dahan-dahan 'yan. 'Pag suma-total mo 'yan, [I'm a lawyer. Ive been reading the agreements. If you summarize them], if their figures…, it would end up in power-sharing and in a coalition government. I cannot give it to you. Let's go to war. Let us all go to war," the President said.

Duterte's statement came after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) confirmed that communist rebels were supposedly plotting to topple Duterte in October this year.

Meanwhile, Sison sent his gratitude to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana for "exposing" Duterte's "lies" on giving him safety and security if he ever goes back to the Philippines.

In a statement also on Friday, he said Lorenzana's statement of making him accountable "for his sins" proved that Duterte's assurance of immunity to him are false and malicious.

Lorenzana previously said that whether Sison will come back to the Philippines or not, he will be "doomed to irrelevance" and once he comes back, he will end up in jail.

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