Joma Sison to Duterte: Consult a psychiatrist; You have a sick mind

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison on Wednesday hit back at President Rodrigo Duterte, advising the chief executive to look after his mental health and consult a psychiatrist.

"I pity him and I am tempted just to let him go because what he says against me is patently baseless and comes obviously from a sick mind. But I still have to answer him to prevent him from misleading the public and rousing them the wrong way," Sison said in a Facebook post.

"At any rate, he has to look after his mental health and consult with a professional psychiatrist. Is Duterte the kind of president and commander in chief the [Philippine government] can rely on for the factual basis of martial law which puts at risk the liberties, lives and limbs of millions of people?" he added.

Duterte and Sison have been exchanging heated words after the backchannel talks between the government and communist rebels were cancelled.

Sison's statement came a day after Duterte told the CPP founding chair to kill himself, saying that it would do the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) a favor.

"Sison, tumanda ka na lang diyan, ayaw mo pa aminin na may sakit ka. Maawa ka naman sa Norwegian government, pakamatay ka na lang," Duterte said during the ceremonial turnover of financial assistance to the families of fallen soldiers and policemen killed in Marawi City.

During his second State of the Nation Address, Duterte claimed that Sison was suffering from colon cancer, which Sison — who is also the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) political consultant — denied, calling the President's claim a "blatant lie."

Sison said that he was "amused" by the President's advice for him to commit suicide, but said he would never give Duterte the same advice.

"But what I suggest to him is to consult a professional psychiatrist to take care of his mental health," he said.

"First, he threatened to kill me. Now, he tells me to commit suicide. Is this another symptom of a malady in which the sick person enjoys boasting of having police units and death squads that commit extrajudicial killings with impunity and with monetary rewards per victim?" he added.

As of posting, GMA News Online is still trying to reach Malacañang for comment.

Meanwhile, Sison said Duterte was under the wrong impression that he spends most of his time in Norway seeking medical treatment.

"Now, let us correct his false claims against me and expose his lack of factuality. He seems to be under the impression that I stay most of the time in Norway and get my medical treatment there," he said.

"No, I stay most of the time in The Netherlands. It is a Dutch private or NGO charitable foundation that pays for my medicine and medical treatment to the extent of more than more 98 per cent in the last 10 years or so," Sison added.

Sison has been residing in Utrecht in The Netherlands, where he is seeking asylum as a political refugee since 1987.

He added that there were only a "few minor instances" that the Norwegian government had extended medical assistance to him.

"There were only a few minor instances that the Royal Norwegian government helped me get diagnostic attention and medicine from a clinic and its pharmacy in Oslo, Norway. RNG shared payment for my hospitalization, PET scan and treatment at the Pope Pius XI medical center in Rome last January during the third round of formal talks when I caught bronchitis," Sison said. — MDM, GMA News