TAGUM CITY — President Rodrigo Duterte told former communist rebels here Tuesday to go to China and see for themselves what remains of the communist movement.
“Kinsa gusto moadto’g China, mo bisita? (Who wants to visit China?” the President asked as he referred to his former assistant, Senator Christopher Lawrence Go.
“Adto mo’g China, mao man na inyong gisunod, kumunista, tan awa kung unsa na ang China, wa na na gasunod (Go to China, that’s the ideology that you follow, communism. Go there and see for yourself that it’s no longer following that),” he said, referring to the communist ideology.
The President is here as he turned over 34 new housing units to former rebels in Barangay Cuambogan.
Duterte then told the former rebels to go back to school, struggle to live and tell their comrades who remained in the mountains to put a stop to the 53-year-old insurgency.
“Fifty three years na ang giyera (The war has been going on for 53 years),” he said. “Ingna nang mga buang nga nabilin nga undang na kay bilyonbilyon na ang nagasto sa gobyerno (Tell those fools who remained in the mountains to stop because the government has wasted billions to this war).”
“Sabot lang ta, surrender na mo, pero pagtuon mo og (Let’s agree, you surrender but start learning new) skills,” he also said in his speech during the turnover of 34 housing units to former New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.
“Tan-awa sa Cebu, wanted welder, wanted carpenters, tua na sa (Look at Cebu, you can always see ‘wanted welders, wanted carpenters, they’re now in the) Middle East,” he added.