Sison: No talks at all with Robredo campaign
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 7:42 p.m.) — Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison is not advising the campaign of Vice President Leni Robredo despite a news report claiming that he is.
Sison made the statement in response to a news report on Journal Online quoting him in a supposed statement carried by Ang Bayan, the official news organ of the CPP.
In a message to Philstar.com and in a public statement, Sison dismissed the story as fake.
"I have not been advising Leni Robredo, although I think that she is a far more qualified candidate for president," he said as he described survey frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as having "no qualification but to campaign with too much money from the bureaucratic loot of the late unlamented fascist dictator, Ferdinand Sr."
The Journal story comes amid claims that the Robredo campaign has been "infiltrated" by communist rebels. Robredo has dismissed the rumors and said that she will not ally herself with groups that pursue their political goals through violence.
The story, which claimed to be quoting a statement that Sison made and that was supposedly carried by Ang Bayan, also claimed that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines political consultant had been in talks with Robredo spokesperson Barry Gutierrez on campaign strategy.
"I have not been consulting with Barry Gutierrez, the spokesman of Robredo," he said. Gutierrez is a former activist and also a former congressman for Akbayan, an ideological rival of the CPP.
In a separate tweet, Gutierrez called the story an "absolute lie."
"I presume that the Ang Bayan, official publication of the Communist Party of the Philippines, will deny the fake report," Sison also said.
Ang Bayan, which is available online, does not carry the alleged statement that the Journal news story quoted.
"There was never such a news item published in Ang Bayan," CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said in a statement, adding the "obviously fake news" was meant to maintain the narrative that the communist party is eyeing a coalition with Robredo.
The narrative is meant to "[consolidate] the support of the anti-communist military and police officers for Marcos" and "[lay] the basis for intensifying acts of suppression against the broad democratic forces." — Jonathan de Santos
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