Duterte to rebels: Wait until you are awarded lands, don’t illegally occupy them

President Duterte has warned Communist rebels anew 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 for 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, Negros Occidental last Friday.

"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, Negros Occidental 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 had earlier claimed that the farmers were used by the communist rebels to discredit the government. Charges have been filed against the suspects behind the slay 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.

In the same speech, 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.

Axed for imposing beliefs

The President said he removed communists he appointed in government because they wanted to impose their ideals.

"I placed them in government with the hope that we would be able to reach a common understanding. The worst thing is they want to impose on government their own ideals. But that wasn’t our agreement, so I had to let them go.

The ideal thing for them to have done would be to lobby the concerns of those who are in the movement," Duterte said during the distribution of Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) in Sagay, Negros Occidental.

The President particularly identified former Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Rafael Mariano, former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, and former National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary and lead convenor Liza Maza as the appointees he had to remove.

"Do not even bring the ideology of an idiot here in our government, because the government will never wage war against its own people. The job of the government is to preserve the nation from those who want to occupy our land," he said.

Duterte also urged the communist armed wing, New People's Army (NPA), to stop the armed struggle.

"You NPAs must have lost your mind when you believed in the armed struggle. We will just keep on killing each other then. Fifty-three years. Think about it. Sleep on it. For 53 years so many lives were wasted. You will die and get buried in the forest. Your children will grow up not even knowing what you look like," he said.

The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA, in previous reports, has been allegedly tagged in cases of extortion, mass murder, and violation of indigenous people's rights.

The US State Department and the European Union have both tagged the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization. (With PNA)