Says war in Marawi will not stop until last terrorist is “taken out”
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday reiterated the government’s no-negotiation policy with terrorists, noting that the war in Marawi will continue until the last one was “taken out.”
“I will never ever talk to the terrorists. There will never be forgiving them,” Duterte said in a speech during ceremonies commemorating the 50th founding anniversary of Davao del Sur in Digos.
According to Duterte, the terrorists namely the Islamic State, Maute group, the Abu Sayyaf and their allies had “no redeeming factor.”
He said unlike the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front that work toward a justified goal driven by nationalism, these groups were “brutal and cruel,” whose only aim was to kill.
“The war in Marawi will continue until the last terrorist is taken out,” Duterte said.
Even then, the President apologized for the war that has raged for more than a month in the city south of the country.
The war began on May 23, when armed local terrorists rampaged through the city reportedly in a bid to carve out a province for IS.
President Duterte, who was in Moscow, Russia at that time, immediately declared martial law across Mindanao to quell the conflict.
“I cry”
According to Duterte, every night, when he reads his briefer about the war from the Department of National Defense, the Army’s chief of staff Eduardo Año, and the Philippine National Police, he finds everything “too unsettling.”
“Sometimes I cry. Paluha na ako if the numbers are really (high) kasi nakikita ko patay ang sundalo ko. ‘Ko’ kasi ako ang commander in chief,” he said.
He said he immediately thinks about the families of those the fallen soldiers and policemen left behind.
“I always say to the troops that I am sorry,” he said.
“(But you) have to understand, I have this constitutional duty. Kung di ko gawin trabaho ko, ako ang makukulong. And more is the shame.. I had to do that or we would have lost Marawi in a couple of days,” he added.