President Duterte stood his ground Monday and rejected demands made by Muslim and communist rebel groups.
While Duterte is bent on ending the decades-old insurgencies in the country, rebel groups can neither threaten nor impose conditions on the government.
Speaking at a dinner hosted for members of The Wallace Business Forum in Malacañang, the Chief Executive spoke of a threat made by the Maute group in Mindanao.
“Today, we took consideration of the Maute rebellion going on in Lanao. And they said that they are willing to pull out,” said Duterte.
However, according to the President, the rebel group said this with a demand that government forces stop their offensive operations or they will go down and burn Marawi City.
“And I said, ‘Go ahead, do it.’ We need to do a lot of constructions in this country. There are a lot of materials there and we will be glad to rebuild and rehabilitate every structure that you destroy. As long it’s confined in the areas of Lanao, I don’t really care,” he stated.
“No, I will not stop the operation. As a matter of fact, we will go ahead and – that’s stupidity,” he continued.
COMMUNIST INSURGENCY
Aside from the Maute group, Duterte also cited the National Democratic Front’s (NDF) request for him to release more political prisoners as part of confidence-building measures in the ongoing peace talks.
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