President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he is ready to go to hell with Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison.

In a speech in Pasig City, Duterte said he lost hope in having peace negotiations with the communist group, telling people to just wait for their natural death.

“We have --- we have many fronts, the Communist Party. This Communist Party, I think let’s just wait for the end of their natural life, also mine,” Duterte said.

“Sison is already old or if we are the same age. I’d be happy to go with him hand-in-hand to the mouths of hell. We will not really go to heaven,” he added.

Duterte terminated peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front) last 2017 for being unable to achieve anything due to the leftist rebels' continuous acts of violence.

Shortly after terminating the peace talks, Duterte also declared the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.

But for Sison, the only way for them to evade going to hell is reviving the negotiations as Duterte is ''destined for historical damnation for being treasonous, tyrannical, murderous, corrupt and swindling.''

“I invite Duterte to change course from the direction of hell, mend his ways and resume serious and sincere peace negotiations with the NDFP through duly-authorized negotiating panels within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration,” Sison said in a statement.

“Then we can work together to respond to the demands of the Filipino people for social, economic and political reforms,” he added. Ella Dionisio/DMS