Incoming Philippine leader to militants: talk, or fight

By Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) – The Philippines’ incoming President Rodrigo Duterte has called on a militant group whose leaders have pledged allegiance to Daesh to determine whether they are open to talks or will continue engaging in violence, according to local media Sunday.

Duterte, set to become the country’s first leader from troubled southern Mindanao island, told those attending a thanksgiving party in central Cebu City that Abu Sayyaf members need not be considered an enemy to the people of the Philippines -- unless they decide to persist in militant and terror acts.

“I know that [the militancy] is connected with the issue of Mindanao. I just want to make it clear. Are they willing to talk or just fight it out?” GMA News quoted him as saying Saturday night.

Several armed Muslim groups and a communist insurgency operate in conflict-ridden Mindanao, a mineral-rich but impoverished region where indigenous peoples -- including the Muslim Moro -- have long felt oppressed by what they see as Imperial Manila.

In his speech, Duterte expressed his uneasiness about purchasing weapons and ammunition with public funds to use against fellow Filipinos.

“But I hate to buy rifles and bullets, cannons and bombs to kill a Filipino. I could hardly move my finger to sign a document buying things just to kill my fellowmen. It's painful," he said.

Before winning the May 9 election by a landslide, the outspoken politician served as mayor of southern Davao City for 22 years.

Under Duterte, Davao City transformed from a crime-ridden hovel to a peaceful and investment-friendly city, where he imposed bans on public smoking, and the selling of alcohol and the operation of entertainment spots past midnight.

Since his election victory, Duterte has made overtures toward the Communist Party of the Philippines and the country’s one-time largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is involved in an ongoing peace process.

His incoming peace negotiator, Jesus Dureza, however, insisted earlier this month that Duterte would not negotiate with “terror groups engaged in crimes”, including the Abu Sayyaf.

During a turnover ceremony Friday after the Abu Sayyaf released a Filipina who was kidnapped alongside two Canadians the group recently beheaded, Duterte underlined that there would be a “reckoning”.

“My Moro brothers I don't want to fight with anybody but there will be a time I will not say now, but I will have to confront Abu Sayyaf. It is not yet forthcoming,” he said in Davao City.

“Kidnapping must stop because it has given us a very bad image,” he added, confirming that Marites Flor was released after negotiations.

On June 13, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded Flor’s partner, Canadian Robert Hall, after a deadline set by the group for the delivery of a 600 million peso ($13 million) ransom was missed.

They had been kidnapped from Samal Island alongside another Canadian John Ridsdel and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad last September, before they were brought to Sulu.

Ridsdel was beheaded in April after a 300 million peso ransom also failed to be paid.

Duterte, who is set to take office June 30, said efforts to secure Sekkingstad’s release are ongoing.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf group - armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles - has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.

It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.