AFP spokesperson Restituto Padilla. FILE
The military is willing to engage in talks with members of the Maute and the Abu Sayyaf groups, but they must be willing to surrender and turn over a new leaf in life, military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr. said.
Padilla said the Armed Forces of the Philippines supports the President’s initiatives for peace, including the possibility of engaging terror groups in talks. But the AFP also has conditions.
“The condition is we will talk with them for as long as they have the desire to change their lives,” Padilla told a press briefing in Malacañang, adding that this should be a nonnegotiable condition.
This would be the chance for members of the groups who had been duped into joining them or are confused about their motives for being with them to bring out the white flag and return to mainstream society, he said.
“If this is the agreement and you will give the message that you want to change our life, we will support this opening up of a new avenue for negotiation and we will help you,” he said.
If Maute also wants to talk to the government as a group, the military would be open to that, he said.
“It’s better to dialogue than fire at each other,” he said. “Having a listening ear is better than having your ear made dumb by or made deaf by the blare of guns.”
So far, though, no member of the Maute group has sent any feeler or overture indicating a desire to talk with the military.
And while the military would follow the President’s desires, he also stressed that the talks with the terror groups should not spare their members from accountability for their actions.
“Our only request is that we must not allow this at the expense of justice. Because those who have pending warrants or who were already sentenced in court must answer for the crimes they have committed,” he said.
But Padilla also said the military was ready to face the Maute group if it would come up with threats and do battle with the government.
“If they think they could take on our forces, they are mistaken. Everything has a limit. If you have shallow pockets, the armed forces has deep ones that we would use to go after you and finish you off,” he added.