(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte said he is fed up with the communists’ actions, including that of their leader Jose Maria Sison, and is categorically putting an end to peace talks with them.
“Yes, I am ending it,” he said in a press conference after his two-hour State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Congress and after briefly talking to leftist protesters converged outside the Batasan Road.
“Ayaw ninyong makipag-usap, mas lalo na ako. Do you want to call off the talks, it will be welcome. Let the war which you started 50 years ago, continue for another 50 years. That is my suggestion,” he said after trying to talk to the leftist militants who appeared not to be receptive to his offer of peace.
“No more talks, so from now on. Don’t question me about the Reds. Marawi we will finish it. Until the last terrorist is taken out, the war will continue,” he said during his presscon.
“Kayong mga Left, I will not talk to you. Why should I?” Duterte said during SONA
During his speech, he hit Sison, the communist leader and his former professor, saying he had been abusing the goodness of the Norwegian government which had been paying for the treatment of his colon cancer.
He said the Norwegian government’s medical expenses for Sison was becoming an issue in Norway politics.
“Sison is sick . May colon cancer. Ang gastos ng Norway, sumurrender na siya. Kasi nagiging isyu sa pulitika. Matatalo sa election, dahil sa isyu dyan,” Duterte said during his SONA.
-Duterte tells rallyists, “You won’t get anything from communists”
He said Sison was already an old man, and urged the young people rallying in the streets outside to just go home, since they would not get anything good from communism.
“Kayong mga naiwan diyan sa kalsada, mabuti pa umuwi na kayo. Wala kayong makuha diyan sa komunista,” the President said.
“Do you think that if the ISIS prevails in this country, that you will have a place in their society? You must be overly stupid. … Wala kayong makuha. Lahat tayo damay,” he said.
-More money to be directed for military use
The President said that he is ordering Congress to also transfer the money which he had previously allotted for supposedly social projects identified by the Left-leaning groups, for use by the military.
“Yung pera para sa Left or whatever is left of it, sabihin ko sa Congress, ilipat dito sa military,” Duterte later announced in a press conference after his two-hour SONA.
“Ang gawin ko sa pera muna, I will build a credible armed forces that can fight at all fronts everywhere,” he said.
Duterte hits “demanding” Leftists
Duterte also had harsh words for the Left, the communists whom he had identified with in the past, saying they had become abusive and “demanding.”
“Masyadong demanding, ni hindi naman kayo nanalo ng election kahit minsan. Hindi nga kayo nanalo kahit isang barangay. And you keep on killing people,” he noted.
He also hit consultants of the National Democratic Front (NDF) — including political prisoners who had been released– whose trips abroad had been financed by the government.
“Kasi pabalik-balik, mga b—–, ‘kala mo mga turista, wala namang pinag-usapan. Pagdating dito gusto ng ganito, gusto ng ganun,” he said.
Duterte warned the communists and their sympathizers that they would be dealt with, if they would do anarchy.
He particularly referred to communist-connected groups which occupied housing projects for the poor, including the police and the military.
“If you do anarchy, I will order the soldiers and the police to shoot, even if I have to bury a thousand Filipinos. Huwag niyo akong ganunin,” he said.
“Let us understand this beginning today. Either we have laws in this country or we do not. We enforce the laws against the miners and the rich, but I will also enforce laws against anarchy, disturbance and (those who) create trouble,” he said.
