President Rodrigo Duterte. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte ridiculed the communist rebels, saying they are “affected with mass insanity” for believing a “rotten ideology” for five decades now.
Duterte said he could join the Communist Party of the Philippines, founded by his former professor and now exiled rebel leader Jose Maria Sison, but he could not take killing his fellow Filipinos.
“Ako pwede akong sumali ng Communist Party of the Philippines. Ang problema, ang hindi ko kaya and I cannot reconcile with the fact that I have to kill my own Filipino brothers to wage a war for 52 years for nothing,” he said in a speech before local leaders in Lucena City, Quezon.
According to him, communist rebels “have jeopardized, caused sorrow and misery to the country fighting for a lost cause.”
The President said he wanted to send at least 10 communists to China or Russia to see how they have abandoned communism.
“And then you go and tour China and tell me straight in the face pagbalik mo kung hanggang ngayon tama pa ba ‘yan… the way that it’s being fought,” he said.
“Fifty-two years of killing. I have not seen na ang isang grupong taong affected with mass insanity. Kagaya ko, nakikinig ako kay Sison. The problem is I cannot go into an armed struggle. Iyong bibitbit ka ng armas para manalo ka,” he added.
He mocked the communists, saying they would never be able to takeover government.
“Baka akala ninyo makuha ninyo ang gobyerno. Not in a million years. Hindi nga ninyo mahawakan isang barangay,” he said.
The chief executive said he used to prosecute rebels when he was still a judge but questioned why the rebels remained in the movement despite knowing that they would never succeed in ousting the government.
“Ang hindi ko talaga nakita dito, by what universal curse are you there in the movement of the Communist Party of the Philippines when you know that you will never succeed at pumapatay kayo in the name of a rotten ideology,” he said. /kga