The August 26 lecture “First as Tragedy, Second as Farce; Marcos, Duterte and Communist Party of Philippines,” by Dr. Joseph Scalice, comprehensively exposed the support given by the Stalinist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) for the fascistic president Rodrigo Duterte. In response CPP founder Jose Maria Sison has unleashed a torrent of abuse, slanders and threats against Dr. Scalice and regurgitated Stalinist lies about Trotskyism.

Sison claims that Dr. Scalice is “grossly lying,” and that “no one in his right mind” ever believed Duterte was progressive or socialist. In fact, it is Sison and his supporters who are attempting to rewrite history and cover up the reactionary maneuvers of the Stalinist-Maoist CPP, using the methods of the Big Lie pioneered by fascist and Stalinist regimes. As this video shows, in 2016 Sison was ecstatic about the election of Duterte, and the prospect of a coalition with the CPP. Sison hailed Duterte—who had already promised to kill thousands in a murderous “war on drugs”—as a progressive, left-wing president with a “socialist orientation.”

We encourage readers to share this video widely on social media and listen to Dr. Scalice’s lecture. We also urge readers to send us letters of support for Dr. Scalice’s scholarship and defending him against the CPP’s slander campaign.