President Duterte on Thursday maintained that he is a socialist and a leftist leader, and said Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison doesn’t have a monopoly on the tag. Mr. Duterte accused Sison of branding others as fake socialists because they would not take up arms against the government. If the socialists would join politics, he (Duterte) would jump to their party, he said. The President and Sison had been waging a word war since peace talks between the government and communist insurgents broke down. Mr. Duterte had been angry at the NPA for attacking government troops, including members of his security team.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 17, 2017 11:48 UTC