DND’s Lorenzana says Joma Sison hallucinating

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Tuesday said Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison must be hallucinating for saying the New People's Army (NPA) has a presence in over 70 provinces.

"Of course not. Sison is hallucinating. How would he know? He has been away for so long he is out of touch with the realities here," Lorenzana said.

Sison, who has been in exile for 31 years, fled to Europe in 1987 after talks between the communist group and the government first failed during the time of President Corazon Aquino.

In a post on social media, he said that the NPA is present in at least 73 of the country's 81 provinces.

Lorenzana said that the NPA's actual scope is smaller.

"They only have presence and modicum of influence in the Cordillera, the hinterlands of Cagayan Valley, Quezon, Negros, Eastern Mindanao, tri-boundaries of Davao, North Cotabato and Bukidnon, mountainous area of South Cotabato," he added.

Sison scoffed at Lorenzana's assertion that he is out of touch.

"Paano niyang masasabi na wala akong alam sa Pilipinas. Sa digital age, kaya kong kakwentuhan ang sinuman kahit sa liblib," Sison said in a message to GMA News Online.

Sison said that the source of the information the map is based on is the Philippine Revolution Web Collective, the official website of the CPP and National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said a total of 4,356 NPA regular members and supporters have surrendered in the period from January 1 to March 15.

The CPP, however, dismissed this claim as "complete hoax" and "beyond credible propaganda."

It alleged that majority those who have supposedly surrendered to the military are NPA posers. —ALG/BM, GMA News