President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that former Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo could have diverted the conditional cash transfer program fund to support the communist New People's Army.

In an interview in Pampanga province, Duterte admitted that he is having a hard time to find Taguiwalao's replacement after her appointment was rejected by the Commission on Appointments.

He said Taguiwalo was "suspected" by some people that "bulk of the money of the Pantawid (Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps) went, were given to the NPA."

But Duterte explained, it did not matter if Taguiwalo gave the money to the poor NPA members to buy food.

"My guidance, even to the military, if it's for food, don't stop. If the money given by Taguiwalo for the poor, there are also NPA (members) who are poor. There are also more non-NPA members who are hungry, I said, 'it's okay'," he said.

"However, the fund could have been spent to buy ammunition or arms because of the pronouncement of (Jose Maria) Sison that they are expanding, that they are recruiting. So therefore, they would need more arms. They can buy, ambush, steal, or extort, whatever," Duterte said.

Sison, a self-exiled leftist rebel in the Netherlands, is the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines and used to be Duterte's professor in college.

While Duterte insinuated that Taguiwalo used the CCT or 4Ps fund to support the rebels, he said, "I leave it to the others to pass judgment."

Taguiwalo was one of the three left-leaning Cabinet officials who were recommended by the leadership of the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front to Duterte. The other two are Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and National Anti-Poverty Commission head Liza Maza.

Peace talks between the government and the NDF have been stalled after Duterte decided in July not to talk to them due to attacks by the rebels against government troops. Celerina Monte/DMS