President Rodrigo Duterte has warned University of the Philippines students who have walked out to protest against his administration they would be kicked out.

In a speech in Davao City where his audience belongs to different tribes or lumads in Mindanao, Duterte said he would rather have the intelligent lumads study in UP than those who have walked out from their classes.

"Students in UP keep walking out. Earlier, they walked out again. Okay, fine. To those who don't want to study, then drop out because I'll bring the smart lumads here. I'll have them study there. There are a lot of Filipinos who want good education," he said.

Some UP students walked out from their classes on Thursday to "fight against the tyranny and dictatorship of the US-Duterte regime," the UP Office of the Student Regent posted on its Facebook account.

Duterte said he would have all the Filipinos who were not fortunate enough to get quality education to enroll in UP.

"They'll get if for free there...UP? You want to walk out? I encourage them, you do not go to school anymore. You stay there in the streets. Fine. I'll get new ones" he stressed. Celerina Monte/DMS