DON'T JOIN KMU // Duterte tells rebel returnees: Communism an obsolete ideology

From GMA News (Aug 24): DON'T JOIN KMU // Duterte tells rebel returnees: Communism an obsolete ideology

President Rodrigo Duterte maintained on Thursday that communism is obsolete, and urged rebel returnees also not to join left-leaning labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno, which he accused of disrupting business through rallies and strikes.

Speaking before soldiers in Davao City, Duterte repeated his pronouncement last February that communism is no longer relevant because Russia and China, with their self-styled socialism, have already embraced capitalism and become successful.

He vowed to send some rebel returnees to Hong Kong and mainland China to “see what kind of communism it is.”

“Their buildings are really tall, while ours is (sic) just short. But don’t try to analyze the economy anymore. It’s difficult to understand. Even I don’t understand it. But see how good and how modern those communists are,” Duterte said in his native Cebuano.

The President also urged the former New People’s Army members not to join the KMU.

“They will have a strike and if the business closes down, they leave. You’re left with no jobs. So who made money from that? The KMU leaders. They’ll ask you to pay for membership and then extort from a store,” Duterte said.

But in response, KMU secretary general Jerome Adonis called the President’s remarks “malicious.”

“Malisyoso at paninira po ang pahayag na ‘yan ni Duterte laban sa KMU. Matagal na po kaming lumalaban para sa ibasura ang kontraktwalisasyon at pagtaas ng sahod ng mga manggagawa,” Adonis told GMA News Online.

Adonis said holding rallies and strikes is constitutional and an exercise of labor rights.

The KMU official said added Duterte’s pronouncements only exposed the chief executive’s anti-labor and pro-capitalist stance.

Adonis also advised Duterte to focus on addressing the inflationary impact of the new tax reform law instead of attacking the militant labor organizations.

In his speech, Duterte reiterated his call for peace with communist rebels.

“Why do you need to kill in order for your movement to progress? A movement that has no hope of progressing. The world is moving constantly and it will not stop for you, not even for a second to listen to the grievances you hold against the world,” he said.

“What we can do is talk. And maybe we can lessen the pain if there is any.”

The formal resumption of peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), was supposed to take place last June 28 in Oslo, Norway. But Duterte called it off to give way to public consultations and review of existing agreements.

The postponement infuriated CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison who said the Duterte regime is not serious in pursuing peace with the communist rebels.

Duterte, meanwhile, urged the rebels not to believe Sison, who recently claimed the President was in coma.

“Sison’s bible is his brain. Don’t believe him. He’s old,” the President said.

“Look at him now, instead of talking about an ideology, if there is one at all, he’s saying that I’m comatose, that I’m dead, or that my thing that’s dangling there can’t get hard anymore.” 

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/665333/duterte-tells-rebel-returnees-communism-an-obsolete-ideology/story/