Screengrab from RTVM video

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday warned expropriation to telecommunication companies Smart and Globe if they do not improve their services by December.

“Maghanap kayo because if you are not ready to improve, I might just as well close all of you and we revert back to the line telephone at kukunin ko yan, ieexpropriate ko,” Duterte said in his fifth State of the Nation Address.

“I’ll be straight. Smart pati itong Globe, ilang taon na ito? At ang sagot palagi sa akin, the party cannot be reached. Edi saan pala pumunta yung yawa na iyon?”

(Smart and Globe, how long have you been around? And I get the same answer, the party cannot be reached. So where did this service go?)

Duterte said the Filipinos’ patience with the companies’ services is already at its “limit.”

“And you might not want what I intend to do with you. Kindly improve the services before December. I want to call Jesus Christ to Bethlehem, better have that line cleared,” the President said.

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