On April 27, the Communist Party of the Philippines told Bato de la Rosa to “shut up” on blaming the Party and New People’s Army for the cases he and Rodrigo Duterte face at the International Criminal Court.

“Like a broken record,” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said. “Bato blames everyone except himself and his boss.”

Bato made the accusations during a campaign rally in Sogod, Leyte on April 26. According to Bato, the CPP and NPA “are furious and want revenge” against him and Duterte.

“Bato is the enforcer of Tokhang. He, Duterte, and other police generals orchestrated the war on drugs that resulted in extrajudicial killings, so they should blame themselves for why Duterte was arrested by the ICC and why they might be next,” Valbuena said.

Bato blaming the CPP and NPA for the Duterte clique’s problems is not new, as his way of deceiving the public. He deliberately spreads disinformation to mislead people, especially Duterte’s remaining supporters, about the truth of their drug war.

“They claim the CPP and NPA are weak and dying, yet they still point to them as behind the country’s events.”

He said they are clearly just using the CPP and NPA to divert attention from their crimes and evade accountability in court.

“The reason behind Duterte’s arrest is his serious crimes against the people,” Valbuena stated. Aside from the tens of thousands killed by Duterte in his fake war on drugs, hundreds of peasants, workers, and other marginalized individuals have been documented as killed by his regime in the name of “counterinsurgency.” His regime’s numerous violations of international humanitarian laws, such as the killings of unarmed revolutionaries and hors de combat, particularly throughout Mindanao, are also documented.

Valbuena added: “The CPP is truly happy for the people, especially for the victims of Duterte’s extrajudicial killings and fascism, because they have long sought justice and demand that Duterte be imprisoned for his crimes.”

“The CPP has long known that Duterte used the war on drugs to make drug lords in the Philippines kneel before him, and centralize protection money from criminal syndicates to himself. Duterte was then the lord of all drug lords, the biggest protector of illegal drugs in the Philippines.”