By TRISHA MACAS, GMA News
Published May 13, 2016 4:14pm

Presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte is set to receive books as gifts from exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, Duterte’s spokesperson said Friday.

Peter Laviña, in a press briefing in Davao City, said Sison’s representative may meet with Duterte, the longtime mayor of the city, on Monday.

“There is a personal representative of Jose Maria Sison. He is sending a gift to the Mayor. I am not sure if it is his own written books or books that he gathered in Europe that he wants to give as gifts to the mayor. If there is a time, it can be given on Monday,” he said.

The exiled communist rebel leader who fled to Europe when peace talks failed in 1987 hoped he can come home when Duterte officially becomes the 16th President of the Philippines.

Duterte was Sison’s student at a Manila university in the 1960s. Some of the communists strongholds today are near Davao, and Duterte has maintained relations with them.

A few days before elections, the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army, even entrusted the release of hostages to him. —KBK, GMA News