Leftist rebels slam new US envoy to Philippines

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) slammed Saturday the appointment of " interventionism expert" Philip Goldberg as next U.S. ambassador to the Philippines by U.S. President Barack Obama. The CPP, the umbrella organization of the rebel group of New People's Army (NPA), said Goldberg's appointment mocks and insults the Filipino people even as it signals U.S. intent of heightening its interference and military intervention in the Philippines with the aim of further strengthening its foothold in the country and in the Asia-Pacific region. Goldberg, current Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research under the U.S. Department of State, is set to replace Harry Thomas, who has been U.S. ambassador to the Philippines since 2010. "It is a grave insult to the Filipino people that the U.S. government is set to dispatch as its ambassador to the country someone who has been declared persona non grata in another country, " said the CPP. The CPP pointed out that Goldberg was expelled as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia in 2008 for having carried out interventionism and acts of subversion against the government of Evo Morales which has been openly assertive of its national sovereignty against U.S. interventionism and foreign economic domination. The CPP, with its armed wing of the NPA, has been waging war against the government for over four decades.