Duterte to AFP: Do you know the cost of war?

MANILA, Philippines—”Do you know the cost of war?

This was the reaction of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on the “all-out offensive” of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against Moro rebels.

AFP chief Gregorio Catapang Jr., has ordered an intensified operation against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Moro rebels in the southern Philippines.

Catapang said the all-out offensives were meant to protect the communities from the insurgents, who had launched a series of bomb attacks to terrorize local communities.

“I grew up there, I understand them (people of Mindanao). For a military man to say that, do you know the cost of war?” Duterte said during his speech at the founding anniversary of the Lyceum of the Philippines University in Manila.

Amid the all-out offensives, thousands of civilians in Mindanao are fleeing from their villages as government forces and Moro rebels continue to clash.

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