Recto: Gov’t must crush Abu Sayyaf before resuming ‘Tokhang’

Sen. Ralph Recto. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Before resuming its “door-to-door tokhang operations,” the government should “knock out” first its bigger threats like the Abu Sayyaf and other local terrorist groups, newly-installed Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said on Tuesday.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa earlier expressed readiness to resume the government’s war on drugs, which was temporarily suspended following the alleged involvement of rogue cops in illegal activities.

READ: Bato: PNP ready to go back to drug war

But if ever the war on drugs should be scaled up, then it must be to plug the source, said the senator, referring to “shabu factories.”

“To dry up demand, you must stop the supply. It’s like a pipe with many holes. Instead of patching it one by one, why not just shut off the main?” he said in a statement.

“I will concede that the war against drugs should continue. But it should be on the manufacturing front. Instead of knocking on homes, the police should be battering down gates of shabu labs,” he added.

But if there is “one group of addicts” the government should run after, Recto said, it must be the “murderous Abu Sayyaf.”

“There will be zero public outcry if there will be a rise in the number of Abu Sayyaf killed. It is the kind of body count the people would welcome,” he said.

“These terrorists have been in the beheading business for 25 years now. Isang henerasyon na. Dapat nang tuldukan (It has been a generation. It should be stopped now),” the senator added.

Recto said the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is now the “most violent criminal syndicate” in the country, noting its “barbarity” that he said has already made it among Asia’s most brutal groups.

“In terms of damage to the national image, the Abu Sayyaf has caused more than what a hundred drug syndicates had done,” he said.

But because the bandits are still holding 24 hostages, Recto said, the government could not unleash its full might to crush the group.

“I think even the President can only privately curse them kasi baka magwala at saktan ang mga bihag (because they might hurt the hostages). Imagine, even the President’s trademark in effect has been taken hostage by this group,” he said. RAM/rga