Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Nov. 28 statement by Prof. Jose Maria Sison, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Chief Political Consultant.

In view of certain recent acts of the tyrant Duterte, he is accelerating the realization of his scheme to declare martial law nationwide and impose a full-blown fascist dictatorship on the people.

Duterte is closing all doors to peace negotiations. He has caused OPAPP Secretary Dureza to resign in order to put OPAPP under total military control in line with Duterte’s policy of militarizing his cabinet. He is giving way to the demands of the military.

The military want to control OPAPP to prevent serious GRP peace negotiations with the NDFP by imposing the precondition of surrender on the New People’s Army (NPA). They also want to place the billions of pesos of OPAPP and Pamana funds under the control of the military. The issue of corruption against Dureza’s undersecretaries is a mere pretext because the Office of the President itself is the stinking center of corruption.

The military officers and some mayors have become notorious for pocketing privately E-CLIP funds for fake surrenders. Now, they want to take over the PAMANA under OPAPP. The racket in PAMANA is also in the invention of fake beneficiaries and in favoring political favorites among local officials.

In a flagrant expression of lawlessness and barbarism or even madness, Duterte has announced the formation of death squads with the license to kill just anyone who is suspected of being or still becoming NPA. He has specified as targets of the death squads any istambay (idler), any critic, any activist or just anyone whom the death squads suspect or think of becoming or being NPA.

He wants Oplan Kapayapaan to compete with Oplan Tokhang in murdering thousands of people. He is obviously becoming desperate because Oplan Kapayapaan has failed to defeat the NPA in the guerrilla fronts. Not a single guerrilla front has been destroyed even in Mindanao where he has concentrated 75 of his total of 98 maneuver battalions under conditions of martial law.

Now, the NPA is increasingly carrying out tactical counteroffensives in the countryside of Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon. But the NPA is not yet fielding commando teams to urban areas in consideration of the CPP policy that the character the urban mass struggle is legal and defensive.

It is only Duterte who has conjured the illusion that the urban areas are already swarming with “sparrow units” in urban areas in order to have the pretext for forming his death squads to threaten and use against his urban-based legal opponents.

Duterte has gone out of his mind. As Catholic Bishop David has observed, he is mentally sick. He needs psychiatric help and should be removed from his position.

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