TRUST the Armed Forces of the Philippines, not the New People’s Army, President Rodrigo Duterte told the lumad or indigenous people of Mindanao at a summit in Davao City on Friday.
The President said the government had aided the lumad while the NPA only extort from them.
“Who buys oxygen for you? Who pays for your hospital bills? Who pays for the vehicles to bring your sick [to the doctor]? The NPA? (Expletive), the NPA will foot those bills? They’d ask you to pay for it! They’d extort you and scare you into paying [revolutionary taxes] for all time,” Duterte said in Cebuano.
In contrast, the Presidents soldiers would only ask the lumad to let them sleep in their homes and leave soon after.
“Why would you fight them? Soldiers are the ones you should be giving favors to, not the NPAs. They would ask everything from you, even rice,” he said.
The President then announced the release of P100 million for lumad livelihood programs and agricultural development, and promised them housing units and jobs.
Soldiers, Duterte added, would never harass lumad families. “Are there any soldiers who [have] touched your wife’s legs?” he asked.
Instead, the President told the lumad to tell him where NPA camps are located, then stay away from them—presumably for a military raid to follow.
“The NPAs have camps here. What you do is, you leave, because we will come for them. Your soldiers will go for them and clean them up. If you want to live here now, we will move you later. Just tell me where they are. I’ll even fly the chopper, and you man the guns. Two guns, just like in the movies,” he said.
“Do we understand each other? Perhaps we’re not clear with this. We will start now, and tomorrow I will give you something. Prepare yourselves for eventual relocation if that is what you want,” the President said.
But for now, Duterte said, if the lumad felt it was dangerous to leave, he would build them temporary shelters, then permanent ones, and then give them jobs.
The President has called the NPA and its political arm, the Communist Party of the Philippines, as terrorist groups, shortly after he canceled peace talks with the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Authorities have also arrested several leaders of the CPP and NDF this week. With Francisco Tuyay
