AMSTERDAM - Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chair Jose Maria ‘Joma’ Sison has said the killing of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Randy Malayao was a “horrible act of state terrorism.”

Malayao was gunned down while he was sleeping on a bus in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya early Wednesday.

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Sison accused the government and President Rodrigo Duterte of orchestrating ‘Oplan Tokhang,’ the controversial house-to-house anti-drug operation, against so-called enemies of the state.

“The murder of Randy Malayao is a horrible act of state terrorism. It is so clear it is the armed minions of Duterte who are responsible,” Sison said during an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN after the showing of his biopic ‘The Guerrilla is a Poet’ in Amsterdam.

He also denounced allegations by Chief Supt. Mario Espino, director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional office in Cagayan Valley, that Malayao’s murder was carried out by the New People’s Army (NPA), the communist party's armed wing.

“It is a brazen intrigue of the vilest kind…with a malicious purpose to cover up the criminal responsibility of the murdering agents of the Duterte regime,” he said.

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Sison, who has been in exile in the Netherlands for 30 years, added that Malayao’s killing was an indication that government was no longer just after petty drug addicts and pushers but also ‘revolutionaries’ and critics. He likened the situation to a plague.

“Pretty soon the plague will spread. The plague of state terrorism will also hit even the church people whom Duterte has been attacking. The bishops he accused of being useless, worthy of being robbed and killed,” Sison said.

Malacañang earlier condemned the slay, saying "there can be no act of violence against anyone."

Because of Malayao's killing, Sison said the NDFP is in the process of reconsidering its policy of being open to peace negotiations with the government under Duterte.

Talks between the NDFP and the government had collapsed after Duterte cited continuing rebel attacks on state troops while negotiations were underway.

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