Duterte condemns NPA beheading of militiaman, likens rebels to ISIS

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday condemned the communist rebels for beheading a militiaman in Surigao del Sur and likened them to the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

 

Duterte said the New People's Army, the armed wing of the communists, beheaded Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit member Acebedo Bocales even if he already surrendered. 

 

"What makes them different from the ISIS and kidnappers? That's their kind of justice," the president said in a forum on indigenous peoples in Davao City. 

 

"When did the government and the soldiers cut off your hands and your penis? Son of a b****" he added. 

 

Bocales, a former NPA member who surrendered to the government, was reportedly beheaded by the rebels last Wednesday in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur.  

 

In the same speech, Duterte chided student activists from the University of the Philippines who walk out of their classes to stage anti-government rallies. 

 

He threatened to replace the students with intelligent and deserving Lumads or indigenous peoples. 

 

"These UP students who keep on walking out, earlier, they walked out. Okay. Those who don’t want to school, get out because I will bring the bright Lumads there, I will enroll them there in UP. A lot of Filipinos want a good education," the President said. 

 

"Those who keep on demonstrating, don’t walk out of the rooms. I will give you a privilege. Don’t go to school for a year because I will let all the Filipinos who want a good education in for free," he added.