MANILA, Philippines — “Just wait for my signal,” President Rodrigo Duterte said as he threatened anew the “rich” owners of water concessionaires whom he called thieves.

“There are rich people in the Philippines who are crazy. They are the ones we should kill. Just wait for my signal. Behind a killing is a leader, especially if his followers are stupid and would just fire whenever they are told to,” Duterte said in Cebuano during a speech Thursday night in San Isidro, Leyte.

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“Perhaps you don’t fully understand this but the Philippines has been fooled by the rich people in the Philippines. Just like Ayala, just like Pangilinan, who owns Globe and Smart. They are all thieves, those sons of b****. That’s the whole truth,” he added.

Fernando Zobel de Ayala is the chairman of Manila Water and the Ayala Corporation leads Globe Telecom, while Manuel V. Pangilinan is the chairman of Maynilad and of Smart Communications.

The President added the business owners “violated” the rights of Filipinos and that their “greed is insatiable.”

“They have violated the rights of the people. They are just distributors of water yet they have become millionaires, while the Filipinos have lost. That’s why I am angry at them,” Duterte said.

“That is why I am angry at the rich people. But there are many rich people who are good, those who have a conscience. But these guys, they own it all. All the businesses in the Philippines. The greed in you is insatiable,” he continued.

Duterte had earlier slammed Pangilinan-led Maynilad and Ayala-led Manila Water for supposedly milking billions from the people and the government over the 1997 water contract.

New contracts crafted by the Justice department are being offered to the water firms but Duterte said there is no guarantee they will not be prosecuted over the original deals.

Should the water firms reject the new contracts without the “onerous” provisions, the President said he would nationalize the distribution of water services.

READ: Duterte to nationalize water services if firms reject new deal

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