Duterte: Insurgency ending

The communist insurgency is "about to end” since the rebels have ran out of bullets and food after years of armed conflict, President Duterte declared last Thursday.

The President said rebels should just surrender to authorities as he offered to give them a "small" condominium unit and livelihood assistance to jumpstart their lives.

"Whether you agree to it or not, you New People’s Army, the communists, you are about to end," Duterte said during the distribution of land ownership certificates to farmer beneficiaries in General Santos City.

"You don’t have guns, you don’t have bullets, you don’t even have food. All you have are sores and you are being bitten by leeches," he said.

Duterte urged the communist rebels to come down from the mountains and lay down their arms, telling them that communist ideology was a lost cause. He said the rebels have been fighting for more than five decades but have not been able to successfully occupy a single barangay.

"To the communists, come down here. I’ll give you a small condo. The same condo that I allot for the military and police. But yours will be smaller but it's a house that you can live in. It's habitable so to speak," he said.

He said the rebel returnees can also learn livelihood skills from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. "I’ll give you a house. I’ll give you a job. I will send you to school for skills training," he said.

The President also reminded the local rebels that there were no longer communist countries, citing that China has become a "controlled capitalist.” He renewed his offer to send some rebel returnees to Hong Kong and mainland China to see their progress.

"China and Hong Kong look the same. They are very rich. Are they communist? No more. It’s a controlled capitalist. That’s it. It’s a controlled economy, marketdriven," he said. "There are no communist countries anymore. But Philippines is letting itself be deceived," he said.

He slammed the local communist insurgents for allegedly committing murder and extortion during their armed struggle against the government. He said these rebels were "worse" than thieves since they kill people who refuse to pay them.

"There are people who like to extort money. It doesn’t have to be a foreigner. And they won’t be able to develop the land because all they do is extort from you. And if you refuse to give it to them, they will kill you. You are worse than a holdupper to be honest," he said.