Duterte to Reds: Tit for tat

August 4, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he ordered the military to give the communist rebels a “tit for tat” following the spate of killings in Negros Oriental last month.

“I will not allow you to do that. I will not. I will give you tit for tat. That's my order to the military. Give them what they deserve,” Duterte said in a speech in Davao City.

Duterte said the communist rebels are not fighting the conventional way.

“You know, I have been mayor of this city for 23 years. There never was a time that the military or myself allowed torture or to hurt people who surrendered from the NPAs or captured. I will never allow it,” he said.

“Maybe we wanted as revenge. But since we are government and we have stan --- you have to have morals to prop us up. Otherwise, we are no different from the barbarians like them. Problem is in Negros, they captured four policemen. And they were battered to death with so many hematomas all over the body,” he added.

The President said the reason why the government could not develop fully the countryside is because of the rebels who commit crimes such as extortion.

“It is a corrupt just like the ISIS, you fight, you kill. I am --- I served notice the other day that I will not take it sitting down,” he said.

Because of the recent killings in Negro Oriental, which resulted to 21 people dead from July 18 to July 28, Duterte said he will implement a more “severe measure”.

He said whatever the rebels do to the people, the security forces should do the same against the Maoist group.

“What --- what is it? Just wait because you are really being too much. And in some areas, they are in big numbers and I am short of policemen and soldiers. But you cannot do it unrestrained, unbridled, uncontrolled as if you are the killing machine of the Filipino,” he added.

Fears of declaring martial law in Negros province surfaced after his statement of doing something “drastic” to solve the killings. But the military and policemen said Duterte has not yet asked for their recommendation on the matter. Ella Dionisio/DMS