By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

In response to taunts by President Rodrigo Duterte at Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, asking “You declare a revolution here yet you are hiding in another country?” while in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, last week to pay tribute to the six police officers recently killed in a New People’s Army (NPA) ambush, the rebel leader said his record speaks for itself.
In a press release by the NPA Apolinario Gatmaitan Regional Command, based in the Negros Island Region (NIR), Sison stated he does not have to prove he has the revolutionary will and courage to wage an armed struggle against oppression.
He touted his record opposing the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos, claiming he was among those who suffered the worst kind of torture, allegedly perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“I surpass the field record of many reactionary military officers,” he asserted.
The CCP leader went on to describe these officers as “in the field for a few years, until they are assigned desk jobs and then retire at the age of 56.”
In his initial statement, Duterte also said, “If you are really sincere, then come home and fight.”
Sison responded he would only return to the Philippines if deemed “necessary” by the revolutionary movement.
The NPA mentor currently lives in Norway./WDJ