MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he would never initiate and agree to peace talks with the dreaded Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), citing how he detests the rebel group’s practice of beheading innocent people.
“You do not kill an eight-year-old boy because (there was) no ransom paid. I do not simply like the idea of cutting heads of people, innocent people pati ‘yung bata. What’s the fuc**** sense of doing that?” Duterte said in a speech before a peace assembly for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in Cotabato City.
“I will never, never, never talk with the Abu Sayyaf. ‘Di talaga pwede. (It can’t be) kailanman terorista (They will forever be terrorists),” he added.
The President’s pronouncement is a complete turnaround from his remark in July last year when he asked the ASG to have a dialogue with him to solve the Mindanao conflict.
READ:Duterte asks Abu Sayyaf to have a dialogue with him
Duterte made that call last year just days after signing the BOL, which is set for a plebiscite on Jan. 21 and Feb. 6. /gsg