ZAMBOANGA CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday flew to Zamboanga City and Basilan province where he inspected troops fighting the ISIS-affiliate Abu Sayyaf group.
Duterte arrived in Zamboanga City in a jet plane and was led by security officials in a room where they initially briefed him on the situation in Basilan and the progress of the military operations against the Abu Sayyaf. But details of this were not made available by the military to the media.
The Western Mindanao Command did not allow journalists to interview Duterte in Zamboanga and Basilan where the president arrived by helicopter at an army base in Isabela City. It was unknown whether Duterte ordered an all-out offensive against the Abu Sayyaf, but he previously said that he needed more time to deal with the extremist group.
“Just give me the luxury of time; I cannot do it just immediately. There are things which I need which we do not have now. But there will be a time, there will be a reckoning. And when it comes, I will just say surrender unconditionally. Release all prisoners, hostages or we fight, but I have to have a firm commitment from our brother Moro about the continuity of the talks, hayaan na muna iyan, huwag silang sumama.”
“As soon as I get that guaranty na talagang peaceful ang intentions ninyo and you are not protecting terrorists and when I have it in my hands, I will be ready to confront and if we confront them, we’ll confront them, tapusin na talaga natin para wala ng gulo so that, my dream is really that one day all Filipinos, we just say Filipinos and we do not at all mention he’s left or right, he’s a Moro rebel or a Moro terrorist,” Duterte said, adding, he will need to get the commitments of the Moro National Liberation Front – which signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996 – before he can address security problems posed by the Abu Sayyaf group. (Mindanao Examiner)
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