MANILA - Malacañang on Monday slammed Jose Maria Sison and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) for declaring that President Rodrigo Duterte will not be able to finish his six-year term, as the word war between the administration and the aging communist leader heats up anew.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Sison should "wake up” and stop dreaming that the communist party, which has been waging one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies, will be able to topple the current government.

“He must be dreaming. The CPP-NPA (New People’s Army) has been planning to overthrow the government but it has failed to do so,” Roque said in Filipino during a televised press briefing in Maasin City, Southern Leyte.

“Joma Sison, wake up! You must be dreaming. You cannot overthrow the government if you are in Europe. You’ve been staying there for so long. Come home to the Philippines and see how the living situation here has changed.”

• Joma says NDFP could no longer negotiate with Duterte
• Decision to end peace talks up to NDFP, Joma says

Sison, who has been in exile in the Netherlands, has said the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDPF), where he serves as chief political consultant, could no longer negotiate with the administration.

Instead of participating in peace negotiations, Sison said it is "relatively easier and more productive for the NDFP to participate in the Oust Duterte movement and to prepare for peace negotitions with the prospective administration that replaces the Duterte regime."

The CPP then released a statement on Saturday saying “it is highly probable that Duterte will not be able to complete his term as his acts have resulted in his regime’s rapid and extreme isolation from the people.”

Responding to Sison’s tirades, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana called the communist leader a “quintessential spoiled brat” and said that peace talks should no longer push through since the communist rebels are “not sincere to talk peace and end the armed conflict as evidenced by their statements and actions."

"They are employing the revolutionary dual tactics to show semblance of peace but continually conducting violence and terror acts on the ground.”

“Sison never ceases to amaze me. He begs for a peace talk and a ceasefire and now turns around that they will no longer negotiate with this government and threatens to destabilize the administration,” Lorenzana said in a statement.

“During peace talks, peace is the furthest thing from their minds. They have admitted that peace talks is basically in support of their armed struggle. It is never the principal objective. Their term ‘just and lasting peace’ is a situation [where] they have finally succeeded in their armed struggle, definitely not our idea of just and lasting peace.”

The war of words between the two sides erupted after the government postponed the resumption of formal peace talks by end-June, citing the need for further public consultation.