MANILA, Philippines — Unfazed by threats, President Duterte warned that five New People’s Army (NPA) rebels will be killed for every soldier slain by communist guerrillas.

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison had said the NPA would kill one soldier a day until the government returns to negotiating peace with the rebels.

“He said, ‘go kill one soldier a day.’ Does he think I cannot do it too?… To the military, you kill five NPA rebels for every soldier killed,” Duterte said, continuing his trash talk with Sison, his former college
professor.

Speaking in Visayan dialect, Duterte said that he does not care whether the rebels are male or female as long as the order is carried out by the military.

The President made the remark when he welcomed over 200 former rebels who were brought to Manila for a tour of Malacañang last Wednesday.

On the same day, some 130 NPA rebels and sympathizers surrendered to the military in Bukidnon.

Asked for clarification, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr said Duterte was clearly sending a message to Sison that he will not be threatened by the NPA nor by any other dissident group.

“ I think the message is: you don’t threaten us, Joma Sison. We are the state, if we haven’t eradicated you, it’s because we opted not to eradicate you as Filipinos. But if you want war, we are ready to go to war,” Roque said.

With the vast resources of the government, Roque said the President wanted to emphasize that it can launch a war against the leftist groups but it has not done so to avoid killing fellow Filipinos.

Speaking to the former rebels, Duterte also lashed out at Sison after the CPP-NPA vowed to oust him from office this year.

“Now, where is Sison? Who am I? I’m the President, talking to you now, promising that I will do something. I have plans,” Duterte said.

Duterte spewed invectives at his former professor.

“Son of a b****. They are boastful. He wants to replace me. No doubt about it because he’s a Filipino, too. I don’t know if he’s really a Filipino. He looks like a Taiwanese,” he remarked.

“He wants to run the government, he wants to have this kind of life. I’m not living here, okay? I live in the barracks. I will just cross the Pasig River,” Duterte said.

Duterte also tried to shatter the political beliefs of the former rebels.

“Why would you even follow the NPA and not believe in God? Is that possible? You are believing in Sison and his brain,” he said.

Duterte in November terminated the peace talks with the CPP-NPA, citing bad faith of the rebels who attacked soldiers and policemen while negotiating peace with the government.

He said the NPA is making life difficult for Filipinos in the countryside.

Constantly under attack by the NPA, Duterte said the agricultural sector remains the “weakest link” in the economy.

“(The agricultural sector is) the slowest of all when everything is there already. There are factories and bridges already but agriculture remains to be hanging,” he said.

The President blamed the NPA’s collection of revolutionary taxes that hindered the growth of the country’s agriculture sector.

“Because of the NPA no one will get into agriculture. Agriculture would have done miracles for the country,” the President said.

Duterte cited the Mindanao region, which is largely agriculture-based, blessed with good soil and typhoon-free, but cannot prosper because of the presence of the NPA harassing the farmers from bringing their produce to the market.

Duterte said there would always be somebody who will buy produce from the farmers but people are afraid they might get ambushed by the NPA. – Gerry Lee-Gorit