Aside from being a self-admitted killer and womanizer, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is also a proud leftist.
Presidential aspirant Duterte made no bones about his links to communism in his speech Monday after he was proclaimed the standard-bearer of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
“By the way, I am left. I’ve always been allied with the Bayan. And I never hid it that I am left,” declared the feisty mayor known as “Digong”.
Duterte shared how he used his goodwill with his fellow leftists to spare Davao from the violence caused by the 50-year communist insurgency in the country.
“Eh left naman ako, if you’ve been to Davao, may nakita ba kayong NPA (New People’s Army) dun na naglalakad na may armas? Sila nga ang nahihirapan because sinasabi ko, magkaalyado tayo, lay-off Davao.
“Sila ang nahihirapan sakin because you know, I much share your ideological dimension dahil anak ako ng mahirap. But I have an ought of office to honor,” he explained.
Duterte is a known friend of the OG leftist, Jose Maria “Joma” Sison. Sison co-founded the Kabataang Makabayan in 1964 and four years later formed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The NPA is the military wing of the CPP.
In past speeches, Duterte said that he specifically enrolled at the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) to study under Sison, who was a professor there. Digong graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1968.
Duterte has also said that he would ask Sison to return home from exile in The Netherlands should he end up as Philippine president. (Samantha A. Giron)
