THE Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemned today the “cold-blooded assassination” of high-ranking official Julius Soriano Giron, warning of a “liquidation operation” being waged against it by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Mr Giron was shot dead along with his wife Lourdes Tan Torres last week when his home was stormed by police and military forces.

The authorities claimed that Mr Giron fired at them first. But the CPP said that the pair were unarmed and unable to fight back against “the fascist forces” due to “the infirmities of old age.”

“Giron was, in fact, murdered in cold blood. The perpetrators and masterminds of the assassination of the Girons are criminals. The party and revolutionary movement will make sure that they will pay for their crime,” a statement said.

“Giron’s blood is on Duterte’s hands.”

The CPP said that the killing was aimed at undermining talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, a coalition of revolutionary forces and trade unions to which Mr Giron was a consultant.

Mr Duterte designated the CPP a terrorist organisation in 2017 after peace talks failed. He signed Executive Order 70 soon after, which created a task force to end the “communist conflict.”

Since then he has been accused of waging a war of suppression against the party, which said that he had “long wanted to eliminate Giron.”

“The Duterte regime may have succeeded in ending the life of [Mr Giron].

“However, with the dastardly act of murder … it has only further roused the people’s hatred for its fascist crimes and steeled their determination to resist and end the reign of state terrorism and all forms of oppression and exploitation,” the CPP said.