Duterte warns Maute militants: Don't force me into war

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte issued warning to the Maute group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, who occupied parts of Butig, Lanao del Sur last weekend to establish a caliphate.

"With regard to the Maute (group), I said I do not want to wage a war against Filipinos but I told them that they have to stop," Duterte said in a chance interview at the Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City.  

"I am not threatening them. I just said I do not want a war but do not force my hand to do it," he added.

Duterte, who confirmed on Monday that the Maute group "has connected" with international terror network ISIS, said he could be "harsh" when dealing with terrorists.

"I cannot be forever traveling here every month to talk and then when I turn my back, there would be clashes again," he said in a speech delivered before Army troops.

"When the time comes, its' going to be a war against terrorism and drugs and I will tell you now, I will be harsh...as harsh I can ever be."

Duterte said he is doing everything to prevent a war but maintained that the military's operations against the local terrorists would continue.

"I am not declaring a unilateral ceasefire," the president said.

"They (military) have to go on with the operations. What is there to stop? No one is showing sincerity so the fight goes on," he added.

Despite the ongoing violence and rebellion in Mindanao, Duterte is confident that the Philippine republic would survive. He said though that he is not yet ready to talk to the Maute group.

Last Monday, Duterte said he would "befriend" members of the Maute group to avoid trouble. It remains unclear though whether the president issued a serious policy pronouncement.

Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Kristian Ablan said the president is "trying to exhaust all means in order to attain peace and order." 

"When the president expressed that opinion, he merely wanted to express his desire to exhaust all legal ways and proper ways into achieving peace and order," Ablan said in a press briefing in Malacañang yesterday.

"But with regard to the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and probably the National Security Council, I am not in a position to give a statement whether they are serious --- whether the statement was going to follow through," he added.

When reminded that Duterte himself confirmed the connection between the Maute group and ISIS terrorists, Ablan replied: "We'll leave it to the President and to his National Security Council to move on with regard to dealing with this particular group."

"Suffice to know that there is no written statement that the government will coordinate or mediate or negotiate with this group. There is no written policy on that. It was just an expression made by the President the other day," he added.

Duterte was at the 103rd Infantry Brigade headquarters in Butig yesterday for a command conference on the operations against the Maute militants.

He also visited the wounded members of his advanced party at the 4th Infantry Division hospital and Polymedic hospital both in Cagayan de Oro.

The wounded soldiers were among the nine persons hurt in an ambush in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur last Tuesday.