Duterte urges communists: Evolution, not revolution

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte likened communist rebels to "robots" who are fighting for a "bankrupt mind" as he blamed them for derailing the economic growth of the country.

Duterte said the Maoist rebels have been killing fellow Filipinos for nothing in the past 50 years.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army, and the National Democratic Front that represents them at peace talks believe imperialism — particularly by the US — feudal relations in agriculture, and "bureaucrat capitalism" — or the use of government resources and structures by the ruling class to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of the people — have kept the Philippines in poverty.

"You're (rebels) fighting for a bankrupt mind. Only one person is thinking. There's only one person using his goddamn gray matter between his ear," the president said during the destruction of smuggled vehicles in Sta. Ana, Cagayan.

The president was referring to Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, who has been on self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987, and who is no longer at the helm of the CPP or NPA. Sison serves as a chief political adviser of the NDF.

"You are like robots. You follow orders. You are unlike policemen and soldiers. If they think it is disadvantageous, they will say 'Mr. President, that cannot be done,'" Duterte said.

The president, who identified as socialist but not communist during the 2016 campaign, also belittled the armed struggle of the rebels, who are waging the longest-running Maoist insurgency in the region.

"Wala naman talaga yan si Sison (Sison is nothing). Unreasoned position. They cannot really carry a fight. You know that, what do you really want? You cannot even occupy a barangay," he added of the rebels, who have been engaged in guerrilla warfare since 1969.

"You are robots, it’s all, what? 50 years? Everybody dies. You, in a bad day, encounter Marines and policemen. It’s either you or them. And that is your life story. You won't go beyond that."

Duterte admitted that he does not know what would happen to the peace talks with the communists. He, however, expressed hopes that the rebels would abandon the armed struggle and prefer peaceful lives.