By Genalyn D. Kabiling
President Duterte has raised the reward for the killing of communist rebels, saying he was ready to give P25,000 for every dead insurgent.
The President admitted that the bounty offer would be cheaper than waging a counter-insurgency campaign.
“Gaya ng mga NPA. Sabi niya, ‘You kill one soldier a day.” Oh really? Ang sabi ko rin sa lahat, ‘You kill.’ Tinataasan ko na ngayon. ‘You kill an NPA today and I’ll pay you 25,000,” Duterte said during his visit to Cebu last Tuesday.
Duterte, who has terminated the peace talks with the communist rebels for the deadly attacks on government troops, said the reward would even save the government billions from the war on rebels.
“Kwenta-kwenta ko kasi kung mag-abot itong four years. P***, mahal masyado. Gyera eh. Kung bayaran ko na lang ‘yung buhay na P25,000, makamura ako by about 47 percent,” he said.
“I translated into billions. You know, we’re maintaining a war. ‘Di sabi ko ‘Sige,’” he added.
The President recently offered to pay indigenous people P20,000 for each communist insurgent they kill. He said the government could train the Lumads as Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit and pay them for their work.
