President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he would only be satisfied in the government's effort in fighting the communist rebels if he sees all of them surrendering or dead.

In a media interview in Balo-i, Lanao del Norte, Duterte said while many members of the New People's Army have surrendered, he was not yet contented.

"I am not satisfied by the numbers of surrenderees...the barometer is...or there are only two (choices), they give up or they’re all dead," Duterte said.

"They’re fighting government. They’re killing the soldiers and policemen. So my order is also to kill them," he added.

The military has said in at least two provinces covered by Eastern Mindanao Command, more than 600 NPA members have gone back to the folds of law. Duterte had received in Malacanang over 400 of them, while the rest have no schedule yet.

Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison called those rebel returnees as fake or impostors. Celerina Monte/DMS