Duterte to Joma Sison: Come home and fight here

The "word war" between President Rodrigo Duterte and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison continued Thursday, with the President daring the Netherlands-based rebel leader to return to the country and fight his war.

"If you are truly a revolutionary leader, my god, come home and fight here," he said in a media interview after visiting the wake of the six police officers killed in an operation in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.

Duterte criticized the self-exiled Sison for living a good life in Utrecht while members of the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP, struggle daily in the mountains.

"Iyong mga tao mo dito, kayong mga NPA, nangamatay na lang, naga-biyuda na lang. Wala gani mo kita unsa na si Sison. Inyong lider, talawan. Duwag. Eh may lider ba na maghigda-higda lang didto sa Utrecht?" he said.

[Your people here, you NPA members, have been dying, losing their husbands. You have not even seen Sison. Your leader is a coward. Is there a leader who just rest in Utrecht?]

"Anong klaseng leader iyan?" Duterte asked.

The exchanges started after Duterte pulled the government from the peace talks, accusing the communist rebels of being insincere following a series of attacks on government targets, including a Presidential Security Group convoy.

On his second State of the Nation Address last Monday, Duterte said Sison, his former professor, has colon cancer — a claim the CPP founder denied. Sison, in response, said it was Duterte who must explain his health condition, noting the several days he was missing from the public eye last month.

Sison also said Duterte has a sick mind and should consult a psychiatrist. —KBK, GMA News