SENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has said the government should “knock out bigger threats like the Abu Sayyaf and other local ISIS groups” before resuming the Philippine National Police ‘tokhang’ operations.
While he concedes the war against drugs should continue, Recto believes that should be on the manufacturing front.
“Instead of knocking on homes, the police should be battering down gates of shabu labs,” Recto said.
But if there is “one group of addicts” government should run after, Recto said it must be the murderous Abu Sayyaf whom he described as the “most violent criminal syndicate” in the country.
He noted its “barbarity” had made it among Asia’s most brutal groups.
“There will be zero public outcry if there will be a rise in the number of Abu Sayyaf killed. It is the kind of body count the people would welcome,” Recto said.
He noted these terrorists had been in the beheading business for 25 years now, adding there must be an end to this.
But he admitted the 24 hostages the ISIS-affiliate group was holding had prevented the military from unleashing its full might for fears that they would be harmed in the crossfight.
“I think even the President can only privately curse them [lest they get out of control and behead the hostages]. Imagine, even the President’s trademark in effect has been taken hostage by this group,” he said.
“In terms of damage to the national image, the Abu Sayyaf has caused more than what a hundred drug syndicates had done,” he added.
While total loot of Abu Sayyaf has been estimated to be more than a billion pesos, what is hard to quantify are the losses they had inflicted on the economy, Recto said.
“Lands are idled by farmers too afraid to till, vacation plans are cancelled by tourists who are discouraged by bad publicity, investments are aborted,” he added.
Recto said one immediate concern was to stop the Abu Sayyaf from snatching more hostages. “Their inventory of captives for ransom must not increase. “
He said there could be hindrances in rescuing hostages, but none in preventing them from kidnapping more.
“What is giving our image a black eye is that while we are too afraid to fish in our waters for fear of the Chinese, here are these bad guys who are using these waters as kidnap grounds,” he lamented.
Many of the Abu Sayyaf hostages were grabbed on boats transiting through Philippine waters in the unprotected southern backdoor.