Duterte slams Joma anew: Paano 'ko hindi maging sosyalista?

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday lambasted his former professor and founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), Jose Maria Sison, for allegedly saying the Chief Executive was not a socialist.

"Kaya ito si Sison, isa ring ugok. T— ina, gusto niya, siya lang ang sosyalista. Ako daw, peke. Paano 'ko hindi maging sosyalista? I’m always left because I’m—migrants lang kami dito sa Mindanao," he told law enforcers in Ozamiz City.

Duterte said Sison would only recognize people as genuine leftist or socialist if they join the armed struggle, which the President did not agree with.

"Just because you are not joining the armed struggle, peke ka na. Ang sa kanya kasing inisip, ugok, ang gusto niyang maging leftist ka o sosyalista ka, na kailangan sumali ka sa New People’s Army, makipag-away ka. That’s not my style. Eh gusto mo daan natin ng politika lilipat kaagad ako sa partido ninyo," he said.

"I do not want to kill a Filipino just because of—ayaw mo ‘yung… Ang armed struggle ang ayaw ko diyan, hindi ko gusto. That’s the problem," he added.

It was unclear what the President was reacting to. But in a Facebook post on Sunday, Sison shared a transcript of an interview where he recalled Duterte saying he was a socialist, not a communist, in their first Skype conference before the presidential elections.

Sison then assailed Duterte for not fulfilling his campaign promises.

"But such fake popularity is eroding fast because crisis conditions in the Philippines are worsening. He cannot fulfill many of his big electoral campaign promises and he cannot solve the social problems because he sticks to a neo-liberal economic policy and a brutal security policy directed by pro-US military officers," he said.

Duterte on the last day of his campaign in the May 2016 elections promised a comfortable life for all Filipinos. — BAP, GMA News