President Rodrigo Duterte has echoed the accusation of the military that the communist New People's Army ( NPA) was behind the massacre of nine sugarcane farmers in Sagay, Negros Occidental on October 23.

In a speech in Cagayan de Oro City on Wednesday night, Duterte said the nine slain were NPA comrades.

"The style of the communists is they kill their own comrades and blame it on the...the NPA are such fools," he said.

Duterte said people should not allow themselves to be fooled by the Maoist group, including its founder Jose Maria Sison.

"Why would you let yourself be fooled with that? Who is your God? Sison? Everything that you died for, the idea, your theology and politics, all of it came from Sison's brain," he said.

"He likes to make up stories so much but has no skill to boast of. But then he keeps on espousing revolution while he's there in the Netherlands, not here. If you are the leader of a cause, go home and go to war here. Why do you keep sitting with legs wide open scratching your b**** there in Netherlands? Grit and grime is accumulating on your b****. Why don't you go home?" he added.

He said those who were killed in Sagay were "fooled by Sison's ideals."

Duterte warned the farmers not to just try to grab land or else they will be killed.

He said he ordered Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones to distribute pieces of land, which are up for land reform in Bacolod.

"For the beneficiaries who were unable to benefit from it, I ordered Secretary Castriciones to give it away. But don't steal and kill people because if you do, my order to the police and the military is to have you evicted," Duterte said.

"They'll pick you up and if you resist, ah you will get bruised. I told them that if a person who is armed resists, kill them. I ordered them to do that. So don't ever do that," he warned. Celerina Monte/DMS