(Eagle News) — Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison again criticized President Rodrigo Duterte as he issued a statement claiming the Philippine leader should be blamed for the Jolo, Sulu bombings that the military said was perpetrated by young terrorists connected with the Abu Sayyaf.
The communist leader issued his latest tirade against Duterte days after the Jolo terror attack which the military said was perpetrated by the so-called Ajang Ajang group allegedly composed of relatives of Abu Sayyaf members slain in government operations.
Sison also issued his statement immediately after a roadside explosion in North Cotabato on Monday evening, January 28, that killed one policeman and injured seven others, an incident which police said was the work of the New People’s Army.
Sison had been issuing statements critical of the Duterte government since the Philippine president called off peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF) last year.
“I agree with the Catholic clergy and laity and other people on holding Duterte responsible for inciting the violence against the Catholic church. This tyrant has called on his followers to kill and rob the bishops whom he has maligned as useless and do nothing else but enrich themselves,” Sison said.
According to Sison, “whoever did the bombing, Duterte will seek to benefit from the terrorist act again by using it as an excuse for further prolonging martial law in Mindanao or even for proclaiming it nationwide or worst of all, for amending the Human Security Act to make it an instrument of state terrorism far worse than martial law.”
“The local authorities and the people of Jolo have observed that the military minions of Duterte have been tightly guarding the cathedral for a long time under conditions of martial law. They are surprised how the bombers were able to penetrate the military cordon,” Sison said.
He said Duterte “will call for more measures of state terrorism under martial law and be oblivious to the fact that martial law failed to stop the bombing.”
Martial law, he said, “has been violative of human rights and has served to facilitate state terrorism as well as to embolden the terrorism of the US (Central Intelligence Agency)-created Islamic State and other groups that physically attack civilians.”
“…I wish to express most heartfelt sympathy to those killed and wounded in the bombing of the Catholic cathedral in Jolo City and to all their families and friends. As a matter of principle, I condemn the bombing as an act of terrorism directed against civilians and a place of worship,” he said.
-NDF working to oust Duterte-
Sison, in July last year, issued a statement posted on the NDF website that the communist group will be working to “oust Duterte.”
“It is relatively easier and more productive for the NDF to participate in the Oust-Duterte movement and to prepare for peace negotiations with the prospective administration that replaces the Duterte regime,” the communist leader was quoted as saying during a forum on “Political implications of the current impasses and prospects of GRP-NDF peace talks” posted on the NDF website.
At the start of the new year, Sison also issued a statement saying that the NDF’s top priority for 2019 was to oust Duterte.
“The NDFP is authorized to be open to peace negotiations with the current and prospective regime of the reactionary government but its principal work now is to work for the ouster of the Duterte regime,” Sison said in a statement issued on January 1.
Sison issued his statement even as police had released CCTV footages that showed suspects in the Jolo blast who were connected to the Abu Sayyaf group.
-CCTV footage shows blast suspects –
Based on CCTV footage near the blast site, the military and the police have so far identified persons of interest acting suspiciously at the time of the bombing on the Jolo cathedral.
The surveillance camera clip showed a certain Alias Kamah, allegedly the brother of bandit leader Surakah Ingog,who was seen tinkering with a cellphone which police said could have been used to detonate the bombs, according to Col. Gerry Besana, spokesperson of the military’s Western Mindanao Command.
Kamah is a known bomb maker. He was seen in the surveillance video running away from the church, along with several others, a few moments after the bombing.
Besana said Kamah’s group was also behind extortion and kidnapping cases in Sulu.
