Dureza says Misuari offered to help military deal with Abu Sayyaf

From GMA News (Jul 19): Dureza says Misuari offered to help military deal with Abu Sayyaf 

Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari has offered the government to “help in addressing the criminal acts” committed by Abu Sayyaf militants, peace adviser Jesus Dureza said Tuesday.

“There is an effort now by the group of Chairman Nur Misuari. I talked with him today. He called me over the phone and he said that he'd like to do coordination with our military forces on the ground because they'd like also to help in addressing the criminal acts committed by the so-called Abu Sayyaf Group,” Dureza told reporters in a media briefing.

Dureza’s phone call to Misuari was a day after the MNLF chairman’s conversation with President Rodrigo Duterte over the administration’s comprehensive peace roadmap.

Fugitive Misuari is facing arrest over the rebellion charges filed against him in connection with the 2013 Zamboanga City siege.

Meanwhile, Dureza said he also received information that five Malaysians aboard a tugboat was believed to have been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf off the waters of Tawi-Tawi.

According to reports from the ground, Duterte said a boat running unmanned was found in Lahad Datu, Sabah bordering Tawi-Tawi.

The peace adviser said a “comprehensive approach” is needed in dealing with the Abu Sayyaf and in the communities where they operate, while assuring that the militants will be punished for their crimes.

“While we address the armed force accordingly by military might and force, you have also to address the community, the enabling environment that provided this kind of an upsurge of criminality which is so, so even barbaric,” Dureza said.

“Deal with the community, deal with force with those who commit criminal acts and address it on a calibrated level. You cannot just bomb everybody there because it's a whole community that's involved eh,” he added. 

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/574310/news/nation/dureza-says-misuari-offered-to-help-military-deal-with-abu-sayyaf