“No, I am not anymore inclined to,” President Rodrigo Duterte said when asked by media on November 18 if he is still pursuing peace talks with CPP-NPA.
“Alam mo ‘yung sa mga propaganda nila and even on the streets, there’s a lot of streamers there and placards saying that pasista ako, ako ay graft and corruption, may 2 billion ako,” he said. “Eh kung ganun ang paniwala ninyo, why relate with me? What’s the point?”
He added that one of the reason why food prices are going is communist’s extortion. “Kayong mga Pilipino dapat maintindihan ninyo ‘yan bakit mahal? Kasi ang NPA, may extortion. Pati ‘yung mga farmers nagbabayad. Dagdag ‘yan doon sa presyo,” he explained.
“Tapos they say that they fight for the people? What a lousy statement actually,” he added.
“This is the most important thing. Noon, we recognize them as legitimate rebels but with their continued depredations and killing innocent people and even an infant, four months old,” the President said. “I’ll be issuing a proclamation. I will remove them from the category of [legit] entity or at least a semi-movement which would merit our attention — placing them pareho sa Amerika, terrorist.”
“Nagsasawa na ako dito sa kalokohan nila. So ‘yang lahat ninyong pretending to be speaking for the people ‘yung mga quasi ano ninyo diyan, legitimate kunwari. And yet, you are, I said, continuing the depredation, putting industries down, and making it hard for the people to make a living,” he said.