President Duterte has warned anew communist rebels against illegally occupying or stealing lands, saying they should instead drop their weapons and wait to become land reform beneficiaries.
As he vowed to pursue genuine land reform in the remainder of his term, the President said he has directed the military to “kill” armed rebels who illegally occupy private or public lands.
“The NPAs are meddling again. That’s what I really don’t like about them. They said they are the ones who decided to occupy a property, but I won’t let that happen. P***** i** I will tell the military to kill them,” he said during the distribution of land ownership certificates in Sagay City, Negros Occidental. “Why will you steal lands? You should wait if you want to have big lands. We’ll divide that properly,” he said.
Duterte remained confident that rich landowners would support the land reform program and share their vast lands with the poor. “The rich ones and the Catholics will understand. There is always a time to be a landowner and a big billionaire and a time just for a simple life,” he added.
The President made the remarks after expressing concern about the alleged involvement of the rebels with the killing of sugar famers in Sagay last year.
He maintained that the government was not behind the violence against the farmers. “I really came here because I wanted to see who were the ones who fought over a piece of land. Those sons of b******. It wasn’t even their land,” the President said.
“They were fighting over a piece of land here in Sagay and then blamed the government for it. What have we got to do with that? You are the only ones killing each other there because with the NPAs, if they don’t reach a resolution, they kill,” he added.
The military earlier claimed that the farmers were used by the communist rebels to discredit the government.
Charges have been filed against the suspects behind the slaying of farmers.
Instead of waging a failed rebellion, Duterte urged the communist rebels to lay down their arms and surrender to authorities. He said rebels would “never win in anything” and will just “keep on killing and terrorizing people.”
“It would be better if you drop your guns and talk. Let’s talk about how we’re going to distribute the lands,” he said.
The President renewed his commitment to give away “all government-owned lands” to the people in the remaining three years in office.
He said he has directed Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones to give the lands away to the people since they have “no use to the government anyway.”
He recognized that the agrarian reform program would help improve the lives of Filipinos but also help address the communist armed struggle. “This war will never end if we don’t give them land. These people dream of a better life for their children, better than their life and the life of their forefathers,” he said. (Genalyn Kabiling)
