Mayor Sara hits back, calls NPA ‘stupid’

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio yesterday hit back at New People’s Army (NPA) rebels for branding her a hypocrite as she called them “stupid” and “bumbling idiots” while also condemning the recent attack of the guerrillas against the Lapanday Food Corp. in the city.

“I may be a hypocrite to you, but you are stupid to me and all the peace-loving Dabawenyos. Look, you cannot even spell the word ‘Pambansang’ correctly. Bumbling idiots,” she said in a statement.

Duterte-Carpio said terrorists and fake organizations do not have the right to talk about social justice.

“Show me your faces and then maybe I will listen to your rant about social justice,” said the mayor, who earlier offered localized peace negotiation with the rebel group and even jobs for the rebels at the City Hall.

President Duterte was tight-lipped about the communist rebels’ raid of a food manufacturer in Davao City, saying he would just adopt the statement of Mayor Sara on the incident.

Asked how the attack would affect the peace negotiations, Duterte said he would no longer add anything to the statement of his daughter.

“Si Inday naman ang nauna. Iyon na lang ‘yung kanya (Inday already issued the statement. I will just stick to that),” the President said.

“Baka magdagdag pa tayo diyan ng hindi tama (I might add something that is not appropriate),” he added.

The militant farmers group has accused her of vested interest in condemning the attack by NPA rebels on the Lapanday property.

“For Sara Duterte to claim the NPA assault in the Lorenzo-owned businesses in Davao City was a personal insult is not only hypocritical but downright self-serving,” said Restituto Baguer, spokesman for the Pambansang Katipunan ng Mangbubukid Southern Mindanao Region, in a statement released yesterday.

Baguer said it is understandable that the mayor views the April 29 NPA attack in the city as a terrorist act against the Lorenzos since her husband Mans Carpio is a legal counsel of the Lorenzo-owned Lapanday Foods Corp.

“We can only expect that a local chief executive who has vested interest in the companies of a land-grabbing comprador-landlord to be the latter’s spokesperson and defender,” Baguer said.

But the mayor said that she and her husband are separate entities.

“In fact, we do not discuss the job that we choose to do, we just commit to sincerely work and earn money for the benefit of our children,” she said.

The mayor pointed out the case of a certain Larry, who was treated at the Southern Philippines Medical Center for trauma as a result of the attack on Lapanday.

“So let me make you understand why I condemned what the New People’s Army have done. On or about 8 o’clock in the morning of April 29, I was standing in the middle of the trauma room of the Southern Philippines Medical Center praying that the civilian who was injured in the IED (improvised explosive device) blast courtesy of the terrorist NPA will not die,” she said.

“I was the one who called his (Larry’s) wife, broke the bad news and asked her to come and stand by her husband’s side. One of his text messages spoke of his work as a simple laborer who sells fruits and fish,” she further said.

“So when I condemned what the NPA did, I spoke for Larry. But you did not know that, did you? You just assumed when I say personal, it is all about my life. Because that is how you are. You are selfish individuals and you think the world is all about you,” she said.

The mayor said that the so-called punitive action against the company was nothing but an action against peace, economic stability and the security in Davao City.

“We now have 130 employees without work and Larry still in a coma. And yet the Lorenzos will still have money that you and I can only dream about in this lifetime. It did not even make a dent in their bank accounts,” Duterte-Carpio likewise said.

Not sincere

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana expressed doubts again yesterday over the sincerity of the NPA in the peace talks with the government following the group’s recent attacks in Davao City and Quirino province.

“We vehemently condemn the recent attacks perpetrated by the NPA in Davao City. Dito po natin makikita ang totoo nilang anyo (we can now see their real character),” he said.

One NPA rebel was killed while three others were injured in the Davao City attacks on the facilities of Lapanday Foods Corp. last Saturday.

NPA guerrillas also attacked the police station in Maddela, Quirino that resulted in the death of one policeman over the weekend.

“They just confirmed without doubt their terrorist designation. They also confirmed my accusations that they are anti-progress, anti-development and anti-people,” Lorenzana said.

“They continue these heinous acts even while their comrades in the National Democratic Front and other legal fronts talk about peace. With each passing day, it is becoming clear to the Filipino people that what these communist terrorists want is to cow the entire nation into subservience by sowing fear and violence. Iyan lang ang alam nilang gawin (That’s all they know),” he added.  – Edith Regalado, Alexis Romero, Michael Punongbayan, Victor Martin, Raymund Catindig