With Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) kidnapping attacks now starting
to put a crimp on the Philippine-Indonesia coal trade, incoming Department of
National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday said immediate
neutralization of the bandit group is one of the first marching orders given by
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
"We will neutralize the ASG so that they can no longer
do the things they are doing (referring to the kidnapping of Indonesian coal
barge and tugboat sailors) as these attacks are now affecting us
economically," he said in Filipino.
Earlier, Indonesia banned all of its vessels, especially
those transporting coal, from entering Philippine waters after seven of its
sailors were kidnapped while in the Sulu Sea last June 22.
Lorenzana said the ban is now affecting the country's power
supply as coal is needed to operate Philippine power plants.
He added that they are now planning on how to operationalize
the President's order.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=900092
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