Duterte threatens to slap Sison if they meet

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, January 22, threatened to slap his former professor should the two meet, the latest in a string of word wars with communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison.

“Kita ta, Sison. Sampalin kita. Tingnan mo. Aw, walay binuang. ‘Tang ina, tamparuson gyud taka. Hambugerong yawa,” President Rodrigo Duterte said in his speech in Mawab, Compostela Valley province.

(Let’s meet, Sison. I’ll slap you. You’ll see. No Jokes. Son a bitch, I’ll really slap you. Conceited demon.)

Duterte was speaking before members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and several leaders from the business sector during the establishment of the “TienDA Para sa mga Bayani.”

He once again told Sison to go home, as in his previous statements. But on Monday, the President said Sison would not be coming home without getting a taste of his ire.

“Tikim ka talaga sa akin,” he said. (You’ll really get a taste from me.)

On the same day, at least 4 communist rebels and one auxilliary force of the military were killed in a firefight that lasted for hours in another town in Cotabato province.

Major Ezra Balagtey, public affairs officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Eastern Mindanao Command, said the fighting between government troops and members of the New People’s Army Far Southern Mindanao erupted when the rebels allegedly attacked a military-supervised patrol base in Luayon, Makilala in the province of Cotabato.

Back in Compostela Valley, Duterte again warned of the NPA’s sparrow units, the group’s hit squads which attacked state forces back during the Marcos regime.

“If you think your life is in danger, shoot,” he told the troops.

Duterte’s statement against Sison on Monday came more than a week after Sison said he was willing to hold talks with the President.

But the President on Monday said there’s no longer any point in dealing with the Communists as “there is no second eschelons in your organization now.”

Last weekend, he met former NDF regional spokesperson Noel Legaspi and his wife in Davao City. The couples had surrendered to authorities on January 15 in South Cotabato. – Rappler.com