Sison: I’m pleased to see Duterte still alive so he can face arrest

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. (Richard Madelo/Presidential Photo)

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison on Tuesday, August 21, said he is ‘pleased’ to learn that President Rodrigo Duterte is in good shape so that the latter can be arrested and “tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC).”

Sison said this after Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher “Bong” Go posted a Facebook live video of Duterte on Monday night, August 20, denying Sison’s claim that the President has slipped in a coma.

The communist leader on Sunday, August 19, posted a photo of Duterte attending the national conference of his San Beda Law fraternity, Lex Talionis, on Saturday. He said guests who saw the President reported that “the darkness of his face had become aggravated from its appearance the other day and that his walk and handshake had become more unstable.”

But in the video, Duterte was seen having dinner with a female companion and even telling Sison, “Joma, ang wish ko sa buhay, maski na wala ka nang silbi sa mundong ito, mabuhay ka pa rin ng mga 1,000 years (my wish in life is that, even if you are useless in this world, you still live for 1,000 years).”

Responding to this, Sison said, “If the video showing Duterte hotel-dating a young woman was really recorded on Monday night (Davao time), I am pleased to see that Duterte is still alive and that there is a chance of his living long enough to be held accountable for his crimes against the people and be tried by the people´s court or by the International Criminal Court (ICC).”

The communist leader said that unlike the Chief Executive,  he does not have any “death wish” for Duterte.

“In fact, I wish him to live long enough to receive a warrant of arrest, unlike the so many thousands of victims of Oplans Tokhang and Kapayapaan,” he added.

The Palace earlier described Sison’s claim as “absolutely false,” however, the CPP leader clarified that he never said the comatose report was true.

In fact, he noted that he even cautioned the readers on his Facebook page that the report “is subject to verification or negation by the public appearance of Duterte and by credible medical bulletin.”

“Duterte should be gratified that the report I have ventilated has given him the chance to deny that he is comatose,” he said.

The CPP founding chairman then insisted that Duterte appeared to not be in good health in his latest video.

“I am also gratified that the aforesaid video shows Duterte truly looking very tired and dispirited, his face still very dark and his right eye drooping. He looks like he just came from dialysis or some other kind of treatment on Sunday,” Sison said.

He also stressed that some conflicting remarks of Duterte against him ‘bespeak’ of the Chief Executive’s mental and moral condition.

Sison said Duterte wants him to live a thousand years, but ‘repeats’ his claim that the communist leader was sick and dying.

He also cited that the military alleged that he is living a luxurious life in The Netherlands, however, the President claimed that Sison has been in and out if Dutch hospitals as a charity patient.

Moreover, Sison noted that Duterte invited him to return to the Philippines, but the former warned him that he will be brought to jail if he does so.

“I agree with all the forces of the broad united front that Duterte is unfit for the position of president of even the semicolonial and semifeudal state of big compradors, landlords, and corrupt bureaucrats,” Sison said.

Davao City Mayor and Presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, also on Tuesday, hit back at Sison, saying that his recent posts about the ‘dying’ President is “not rational.”

“Napaisip ako kung siya ba ang nag-post or baka caretaker na lang ni Joma (I wonder if he was really the one who posted it or it was Joma’s caretaker),” the Mayor said.

“My guess is, at the rate that he or his caretaker is unraveling, he will soon say PRD (President Rodrigo Duterte) is not human but an alien in the form of Rodrigo Duterte,” she added.