Duterte’s offer to the Left a game-changer for Philippines
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The earth-shaking news that Philippines president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has offered posts in his cabinet to the Communist Party promises positive change to come.
When Duterte takes the helm of government on June 30, there is every chance that, for the first time in our turbulent history, a true leader will have arrived to steer an administration of the Filipino people, by the Filipino people and for the Filipino people.
Duterte is offering the communists the powerful posts of agrarian reform, labour, social welfare and environment and natural resources. The CPP/NDF/NPA never had it so good. For 30 years the radical Left has carried on a bloody struggle to seize control of the government, but their struggle has only resulted in countless deaths and suffering, without sparing civilians.
But, if they accept the offer of cabinet seats – the first such offer in three decades – the insurgency can be ended and the entire nation can enjoy the benefits of true peace and untrammelled opportunities for prosperity.
Duterte was reportedly a student of exiled CPP founder and head Jose Maria Sison at the Lyceum of the Philippines, a centre of student activism in the late 1960s through the ’70s. As such he should understand the lifelong struggle of Jose Maria Sison, having literally rubbed elbows (and minds) with the great Filipino.
Jesus L Grageda
(From the Daily Inquirer/ANN)
