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MALACAÑANG declared the communist insurgency a “failed rebellion” as rebels celebrated their 50th founding anniversary on Wednesday.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement as he lashed out at communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, who had said the country was deteriorating under President Rodrigo Duterte.

“The 50 years of Joma Sison’s rebellion speaks for itself. It’s a failed rebellion,” Panelo said in a statement.

“It only resulted in loss of lives of Filipinos, specially the numerous young students who were killed in battles, skirmishes, battles and in sickness in the hills, who could have served their country well in pacific and productive means, as well as destruction of properties,” he added.

Panelo said rebel returnees were “coming in droves responding to the call of the government to return to the fold of the law, while Sison remains ensconced in his ivory tower of comfort and luxury while his comrades die for a lost cause.”

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Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has been in exile at The Netherlands since 1987.

“No wonder the forces on the ground no longer follow him, hence, his regular rants against PRRD (Duterte) to give himself the appearance of relevance,” Panelo said.

“It’s time for him to wave the white flag before his physique gives up on him. There is honor in returning back to a democratic society and embracing the constitutional order,” he added.

Sison said on Wednesday the communist movement remained relevant, leading “a vibrant revolution” 50 years after it was founded

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Sison said Duterte was a “modern maniac in power, trying to put on a national scale his bloodthirsty kind of character.”

‘Constant state of hallucination’

Panelo slammed Sison, saying the exiled communist leader was “out of touch of reality and in a constant state of hallucination.”

“Jose Maria Sison’s long exile has dulled his senses, put him out of touch of reality and in a constant state of hallucination,” he said.

Panelo, then, made a comparison between Sison and Duterte, who, according to the communist leader, is the “best recruiter” of the CPP and its armed wing, New People’s Army, due to the Chief Executive’s alleged abuse of power.

Between Sison and Duterte, the Palace official said “the choice is obvious.”

He noted that Sison is an “intellectual,” whose five decades of “rebellion is a failure that brought only the loss of lives and destruction of property and fear to the very people he is supposed to have fought for.”

Duterte, on the other hand, has launched “a revolution of change in almost all aspects of governance” and is performing his constitutional duty to serve and to protect the people from criminals, the corrupt, terrorists and “from the likes of failed ideologies” like Sison, according to Panelo.

“The winds of change will sweep this incorrigible rebel, who is living in comfort and luxury while his comrades are in the hills, as well as those who follow him, to oblivion and will be buried in the dustbin of history,” Panelo said.

He reiterated the government’s call for the rebels to surrender and wished, “in the spirit of Christmas,” that Sison will be “blessed with inner peace and enlightenment.”

Peace negotiations between the Duterte government and communist rebels bogged down in November last year after Duterte was angered by continued attacks by the rebels on troops and civilians.

The President has set out a new strategy in addressing the decades-old communist insurgency as provided under Executive Order (EO) 70 which he signed on December 4.

The EO calls for a “whole-of-nation approach” aiming to address the root causes of insurgencies, disturbances and tensions such as poverty, historical injustice, social inequality and lack of inclusivity.

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