President Rodrigo Duterte has urged communist rebels to give up their struggle as China and Russia have given up the communist system and embraced capitalism.

In a speech during the 12th founding anniversary of Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City on Thursday, Duterte even told the rebels he was willing to send them to China or Hong Kong to see for themselves things have changed.

"What's wrong about it was (Jose Maria) Sison wanted the communist system itself. But that can't be. Even Russia and China stopped using that and embraced capitalism," he said.

Sison is the founding leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines and is still espousing communism while he is in exile in the Netherlands.

"Sison’s bible is his brain...don’t believe him. He’s old. Look at him now, instead of talking about an ideology, if there is one at all, he’s saying that I’m comatose, that I’m dead, or that my thing that’s dangling there can’t get hard anymore," he said.

Earlier, Sison issued a statement, citing unverified information, that Duterte was in comatose over the weekend, which the President and his Cabinet officials immediately denied.

If there is anyone who is seriously ill, Duterte said it was Sison.

"What’s wrong with Sison is he is suffering from cancer of the colon, the intestines. He has undergone operation several times but the cancer has spread to his pancreas. Yet he still boasts that I’m comatose. Comatose your s***. You’re the one who’s dying. How arrogant," he said.

"Tell Sison that if we see each other in hell, I will slap him. Yes, we will see each other in hell," he added.

The President also promised the rebels that if they would give up their arms, they would be provided houses and they would be trained to acquire skills.

"But if I have nothing else to give and more and more of you come down from the mountains, I’ll give you the houses of the soldiers. You will be given a salary because you will be trained for… We lack good carpenters here. The hotels have slowed down their construction because good carpenters, plumbers, and electricians have all went abroad," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS