MANILA — Malacañang on Monday merely shrugged off Jose Maria Sison’s call for the youth to stage mass protests against President Rodrigo Duterte, saying that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder is “stuck in the past.”
“Again, we don’t attach too much importance on Joma Sison. I hope he has enough grandchildren to heed this call,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said at a Palace briefing.
“The problem with Joma Sison is he is stuck in history. He never moved beyond the First Quarter Storm,” Roque said.
The First Quarter Storm (FQS) refers to the series of mass action protests against former president Ferdinand Marcos during the first three months of 1970.
On Sunday, Sison urged the youth to “launch huge mass marches and rallies in the National Capital Region and in the provinces, like during the FQS of 1970.”
“With the signal act of the student youth, the rest of the people — workers, the peasants, women, youth of other sectors, cultural workers, professionals and religious — will participate in the mass-protest movement,” he said in an interview with Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Sison cited recent controversial events, like the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, measures to amend the Constitution and moves against press freedom, to incite the public against the government.
But Duterte said the communist movement has already become irrelevant, adding that the public has been questioning the sincerity of their cause.
The President made the comment after meeting with National Democratic Front-Far South Mindanao Region (NDF-FSMR) spokesperson Noel Legazpi and his wife, Wendy Bendalian, who both surrendered to the government. (PNA)
