President Rodrigo Duterte supported the claim of a task force tagging five partylist groups as "legal fronts" of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

During his taped public address Monday, Duterte backed the claim of National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy that Kabataan, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, Alyansa of Concerned Teachers or ACT, and Gabriela are ''legal fronts'' of the CPP.

Badoy is facing charges before the Ombudsman for red-tagging 26 religious groups, teachers and student leaders.

Duterte said while he is "civil" with some members of these party-list groups, he condemned them for using government funds to finance the New People Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

"The problem is they are serving as legal fronts of the Communist Party...They are supporting a bunch of --- they have no ideology," Duterte said.

"I’m sorry to say I have many friends there, who I respect, but I know they are supporting [the CCP] through this 'backdoor,' in their alliance with the government," Duterte said.

"Even abroad, in the international bodies they were able to infiltrate and they are espousing an advocacy that in the end they want to end this government," he added.

He said he will continue to criticize these ''legal fronts'' of CPP and other groups. DMS