Duterte raises reward for killing communist rebels to P25,000

President Rodrigo Duterte has turned up his verbal attacks against communist rebels, saying he is willing to pay P25,000 for every New People’s Army member killed.

The offer was higher than the previous P20,000 bounty he dangled to members of indigenous communities in response to Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison’s threat that the NPA could kill one soldier a day to force the resumption of peace talks.

“Now, I’m placing a premium. Sige, P25,000. If you work really hard to crawl across the forest, you’ll surely be able to shoot even just one. If you can shoot a bird above you, then how much more about an [NPA] whose head is so big?” Duterte said during a private meeting in Cebu City on Tuesday, a transcript of which was provided by Malacañang to the media late Wednesday night.

Duterte added it would be cheaper to go for this method in the government’s counter-insurgency campaign.

“Kwenta-kwenta ko kasi kung mag-abot itong four years. P***, mahal masyado. Gyera eh. Kung bayaran ko na lang 'yung buhay na P25,000, makamura ako by about 47 percent,” he said.

The President’s offer did not sit well with an international human rights watchdog.

“Duterte’s offer of a bounty for killing communist rebels, however, encourages war crimes such as shooting enemy fighters who have surrendered or are wounded, or who are civilians protected from attack,” said Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia division researcher Carlos Conde.

“Such rhetoric is especially dangerous because the Philippines has a history of Lumad community members being on both sides of the country’s many internal conflicts, as both fighters and victims. This includes joining paramilitaries and militias during the nearly half-century long Maoist insurgency and equally protracted Islamic separatist movements and local conflicts in the south,” he added.

Conde said respecting rights “rather than offering bounties” was “the best way to help the Lumad.” — RSJ, GMA News