THE terrorist group Abu Sayyaf must be clear if it wants to be seen as an enemy, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said late Saturday night even as he declared his openness to hold a dialogue with the same group that recently affirmed its allegiance to the Islamic State.
“The Abu Sayyaf, they are not my enemies,” Duterte told his Cebuano supporters.
“I know that is connected with the issue of Mindanao. Are they willing to talk or just fight it out?”
Duterte vowed a “day of reckoning” against the Abu Sayyaf who beheaded two Canadians recently after no ransom was paid for their release.
He made his statement even as Malacañang said Sunday the military and the police will continue to fight any terrorist threat, including the recent IS statement urging its members to go to the Philippines to sow terror in the country.
“The threat of terrorism, wherever it comes from, is addressed by our Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told the state-run dzRB radio.
The Islamic State has called on its followers in Southeast Asia to fight for the terror group either in Syria or in the Philippines.
On Sunday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines confirmed that the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped seven Indonesian sailors in the Sulu Sea on June 22.
The terrorist group had recently pledged their support for the Islamic State in its “pivot to Asia,” with extremist Isnilon Hapilon as one of its leaders.
In a propaganda video released by the extremist terror group, a man who spoke in Filipino urged his “brothers” not to hesitate in their fight.
“Take care and be strong, do not be swayed by the deceptive tactics of the newly elected [President Rodrigo] Duterte. May he be cursed by Allah,” the man said.
On Friday, Duterte said the kidnappings and beheadings perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf must stop, and that he would soon confront the extremist group.
Duterte also warned his fellow Mindanaoans not to join the bandit group because he would unleash war on them.