FORMER communist rebel now Cebu City Councilor Pastor "Jun" Alcover Jr. hopes the death of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder and chairman Jose Maria Sison will also lead to the death of the latter's violent ideology.
In his privilege speech during the council's regular session on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, Alcover said Sison still deserves respect since "it would be unchristian to celebrate the death of another being."
Sison died at the age of 83 last December 16 after a two-week confinement in a hospital in the Netherlands.
Alcover said he led the first squad of the CPP-New People's Army in Cebu and had organized rebels in the outskirts of Cebu City.
Being part of the armed movement for almost 10 years, Alcover admitted that joining armed revolutions and hiding in the mountains did not solve the country's political, economic and cultural problems.
"Wala gyud hinungdan (There is no reason). Walay makuha kung magpadayon ang violence nga pagakuptan sa atoang katawhan (There is nothing to be gained if people continue to hold on to violence)," he said.
Alcover also delivered a message to "red activists" who participate in insurgent movements that the country will never achieve everlasting peace and progress by going against the government. (IRT)