(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to crush the Islamist militants in Marawi who have allowed themselves to be contaminated with an ideology that is radical, brutal and very foreign from the Philippines, and Asia — the Malay people — in general.
“Alam mo sa totoo lang, if it was just an uprising, just the mainstream rebellion of the MI(LF) and the MNLF, I can endure a war with you. And I can even plead peace with you,” the President said.
“Wala akong problema at naiintindihan ko kung bakit tayo nag-aaway at nagpapatayan,” he said citing how he understood what the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) were fighting for.
He said he understood the pain in the hearts of the MILF and the MNLF since he was young.
But what is painful for him, he said, was that a “fractured ideology” that was brutal and heartless, which came from the Middle East had entered the picture of terrorism in Mindanao.
“Ang masakit sa akin, ay pumasok ay fractured ideology na hindi nila malaman kung ano ang kanilang ginagawa. All they want is to kill and destroy.. Paano naman mabubuhay nyan?” the President told a mostly Muslim audience at the Rizal Hall in Malacanang on the occasion of the celebration of Eid’l Fitr on June 27.
Eid’l Fitr marks the end of the month-long Ramadan, which began on May 27 and lasted until June 24.
Duterte says some of his Maranao cousins also joined Maute group
The President said what was happening in Marawi City was also very painful for him because he had cousins who joined the Maute group.
“I am also bleeding like you. I do not even want to talk about it maski dyan sa cabinet kasi nasasaktan ako,” he said.
“May mga pinsan akong nandoon sa Maute, akala ninyo,” bared the President who had previously traced part of his ancestry in Maranao, saying his grandmother was a Maranao.
“They went there, a cousin of mine died,” he said.
“Nagtaka nga PSG (Presidential Security Guards) kung sino yan. Sabi ko mga pinsan ko,” Duterte told his audience in Malacanang.
He explained that he tried to dissaude his cousins from joining the Maute group, but that some were stubborn and wanted a taste of adventure.
“Sabi ko, huwag kayong pumasok dyan. Wala kayong makuha dyan,” he recalled telling his Maranao cousins.
“We are all human beings whether we like it or not, we will die…Ang problema nito, anong iiwan natin? What will we leave to our children? We only have a limited time to correct this aberration,” he said.
“Matanda na tayo e. If we allow this thing to drag on, kawawa itong mga bata natin,” he noted.
The President said he has nephews and nieces in Iligan City who are crying, but he did not elaborate.
“Mga pamangkin ko nasa Iligan, iyak nang iyak. Sabi ko paano iyan?” Duterte said.
“Tatapusin ko talaga ito” – Duterte
The President vowed he would crush the terrorists and put a stop to their senseless killings.
“Tatapusin ko talaga ito,” he said. “But one thing I promise you my brother Moros, I will see to it that Marawi will rise as a prosperous city again.”
The 72-year-old Philippine leader said this was why he decided to declare martial law when he heard of the news that happened in the country while he was in Russia on May 23.
During that time, he said he had already a “complete picture” based on the intelligence reports that he had received of what had been happening in Marawi.
“Alam ko nung naperfect na namin ang intelligence that there were so many firearms pati explosives,” the President explained.
He said that he had been warning before for people not to force his hand into declaring martial law, because at that time, the intelligence information he had been receiving was arriving fast — the stockpile of arms was already in Marawi City.
“Ang supply nila (ng arms) di matapus-tapos. Because they were able to stockpile the arms, and alam ko hindi ninyo alam yun,” he said.
The President said some Filipinos who travelled to the Middle East “got contaminated, brought the ideology back home and promised to declare war against humanity.”
He said that when he got the complete picture, there was nothing left to do to address the situation but to declare martial law.
“I am very sorry that this has to happen. I am not happy na mamatay ang Maranao. Hindi ako maligaya sa hirap ninyo,” Duterte said.
“I just wanted this thing over and those radical extremists out of the Muslim world.”
President Duterte said that the Malay race is not brutal, so this ISIS ideology that came from the Middle East was not consistent with what Malay culture and ideology.
“We are a Malay race.. yung iba Kristiyano, yung iba Muslims. We are not that brutal and we respect life,” he stressed.
