Duterte order to police, military on Reds: ‘Kill them all’

DAVAO CITY—Kill, kill them all. Finish them.

President Rodrigo Duterte gave this order about how to deal with communist rebels to the police and military at a meeting in Cagayan de Oro City of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Eclac), which he created to end the insurgency by the end of his tenure in 2022.

Duterte called New People’s Army, armed wing of Communist Party of the Philippines, as “bandits” who are fighting a war they could not win at a time when former communist countries, like Russia and China, had already turned their backs on socialism and embraced capitalism.

“If there’s an encounter and you see them armed, kill, kill them, don’t mind human rights, I will be the one to go to prison, I don’t have qualms,” said the President, who ranted at rebels throughout his speech while dangling houses, jobs and food to those who would surrender.

“I have lots of houses built all over the Philippines,” the President said in a speech mostly delivered in Cebuano.

“I release money for those of you who understood that what you were doing—asking money from the poor was wrong,” he said, referring to the NPA’s collection of so-called revolutionary taxes.

Duterte repeated a claim he made that rebels made an impossible demand—a coalition government—which he said was not negotiable.

“The leadership of Sison submitted a document, which was not very clear but somehow could lead to a coalition government but it’s non-negotiable for me, so there’s no hope of ending this insurgency, I will try,” he said, referring to Jose Maria Sison, founder of CPP who is in exile in The Netherlands.

Duterte also said that most village chiefs, who supported the government, had been killed by rebels as NPA continued to prey on the poor in remote villages, which are the last bastions of the insurgency.

“So, if you see them holding arms, shoot them, kill them,” Duterte said.

“Just return the bodies to their families,” he said, adding that he welcomed those who would surrender.

“Those of you here who don’t want trouble, because you already know right from wrong, we welcome you,” he said.

“I give you houses, jobs,” Duterte said. “For those who don’t have work yet, I’ll give you rice to eat,” he added.

Duterte said he’ll help the wives of rebels find work through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) through Tesda chief Isidro Lapena, a former chief of police of Davao City, Duterte’s hometown.

“You have been fighting in the last 53 years and now, I already have great grandchildren and you are still fighting,” he said, addressing the rebels.

“You want to overthrow the government? You don’t even have a boat,” he said, adding that the government has many weapons, policemen and soldiers to defeat the insurgents.

TSB