Duterte: Talks with Reds ‘a waste of time’

President Rodrigo Duterte INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said there would no longer be peace talks between the government and the communist rebels.

“Let’s stop talking. We are wasting our time,” Duterte told the communist amid their recent attacks against government troops.

Duterte said he was willing to fight against the communist guerrillas for another five decades.

“Let us renew the fighting for another 50 years,” he said in a speech during the Davao Investment Conference in his hometown city.

After being branded as “bully” by the communists, Duterte said it was his job to bully those who destroy the government.

“The Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army branded me as a bully. You are right, 1,000 percent. I bully people who try to topple government,” he said.

“That is my job to bully you and to kill you because there is a war between you and us because you are killing my soldiers,” he said.

He said the government has done nothing good in the eyes of the communists.

“Itong komunista, wala talaga kaming ginawang maganda (These communists, we haven’t done anything good for them),” he said. JPV