Human rights groups and indigenous activists have accused Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of inciting the military to commit war crimes after he offered a $384 bounty for each communist rebel killed.
Last week, Duterte said he would train indigenous people, or lumads, to become paramilitary fighters and pay them 20,000 pesos ($384) for each communist rebel they kill in their communities in the southern island of Mindanao.
The president made the bounty offer after the recent killings of an indigenous leader and his son, who were known members of a paramilitary force in their community.
The armed communist rebel group, New People’s Army, has claimed responsibility for the killing in early February, accusing the two of “land grabbing and extortion”.
Instead of promoting measures to ensure those responsible for abuses, including communist rebels, are held accountable in accordance with international law, Duterte is “encouraging his troops to commit war crimes” with his bounty offer, Conde said.
Recently, the International Criminal Court announced it had taken the first step to investigate Duterte for possible crimes against humanity over his drug war, which has killed thousands of people.
Meanwhile, the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV), one of the largest indigenous groups in the southern Philippines, said killing for money is not part of their culture.
Chad Booc, who teaches indigenous children in Mindanao, told Al Jazeera the real culprit of violence in indigenous areas in the southern Philippines is the military.
He said the government is targeting indigenous lands, where coal mining operations are being planned.
Booc said the military had been harassing indigenous communities, alienating them, and turning them against the government.
The communist rebels said they operate in the area to protect indigenous people from military harassment.
The Duterte administration has been engaged in on-and-off peace negotiations with the rebels since mid-2016.
But following new clashes between government forces and rebels in 2017, Duterte signed a proclamation labelling the communist fighters a “terrorist” group, essentially breaking off the peace process.
The military has also compared the communist rebels to armed Muslim fighters, who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). But the communists say they are fighting for social justice and equality.
The Communist Party of the Philippines launched a rebellion in 1968 that has so far claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people.