Duterte intoxicated with power, Reds say

MANILA - The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has withdrawn its support for President Rodrigo Duterte's war on illegal drugs, saying it has "clearly become anti-people and anti-democratic."

The leftist group also slammed the President for supposedly being "full of himself and intoxicated with the vast power he is not used to handle."

In a statement released Friday, the CPP said government's anti-drug war has spiraled into "a frenzied campaign of extra-judicial killings and vigilante murders perpetrated by the police and by police-linked criminal syndicates."

The CPP noted that nearly 1,000 people have been killed in just a little more than one month.

Human rights, they claimed, are being "violated with impunity" by policemen who are "emboldened by Duterte's assurances of 'I got your back.'"

(READ: MAP, CHARTS: The Death Toll of the War on Drugs)

The CPP said the Duterte regime has unleashed "unmitigated violence" on petty suspected criminals, while suspected drug bigwigs "are afforded courtesy calls to Malacañang, accommodations in Camp Crame's guest house and preliminary investigations by the NBI."

The CPP also lambasted Duterte's list of alleged "narco-personalities, which they said were released "without proof nor clear basis for accusations of their involvement in drugs."

"He could not even tell the people how the lists were drawn. It is a mystery even to the chief intelligence officer and head of the PNP," CPP said.

'DUTERTE NOW A LAUGHING STOCK'

The communist rebels also issued strong words against the President.

"Duterte has become so full of himself and intoxicated with the vast power he is not used to handle that he thinks he can get away with upturning the criminal judicial system and denouncing people for defending human rights," the CPP said.

"He dishes out threats of imposing martial law. He has made himself a laughing stock among legal circles. He, however, is not laughing and threatens anyone who chooses to stand in his way."

The CPP went on to say that Duterte's drug war is bound to fail because it "does not address the socio-economic roots of the problem."

They added that the crackdown on narcotics will turn into "a war among the criminal drug syndicates, between one narco-politician against another."

The CPP also cited the failure of Mexico and Thailand's bloody campaign against drugs in saying: "It has been proven in history that no amount of killing will succeed in putting an end to the drug menace."

'DEMAND END TO MADNESS'

The CPP urged all democratic forces to "unite and demand justice and an end to the madness of police and vigilante killings."

The group also called on the public to amplify their clamor for jobs and land that could improve their economic condition and draw them away from desperation, and thus, end the conditions for the proliferation of drugs.

In conclusion, the group said its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), will intensify its operations to arrest and disarm drug suspects, but will no longer cooperate with government's anti-narcotics drive.

The CPP statement comes days before the scheduled resumption of formal talks between government and the communists in Oslo, Norway on August 22.

Leftist leaders, however, are threatening to postpone the negotiations until government secures the temporary release of CPP former chairman Benito Tiamzon and other consultants.

Duterte also warned CPP that he will shelve peace talks if another landmine attack on government troops is traced to the NPA.