Many in Philippines saw President Rodrigo Duterte’s overtures to China as a gamble, some called it foolish, but the reality is that sooner or later all nations of the region will have to acknowledge that there is a global super-power at their back door and that super-power is not the United States.
China has scrambled a fleet of maritime vessels and fighter jets to intercept the American aircraft carrier USS Stethem which illegally sailed into Chinese waters.
Protesters are blocked by police as they attempt to march closer to the U.S. Embassy to denounce the U.S. military’s role in the ongoing battle between Government forces and ISIS militants who laid siege to Marawi city in southern Philippines, June 12, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. (AP/Bullit Marquez)
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has sent a message to his soldiers that they should not hold back when fighting ISIS, not under any circumstances.
He told soldiers to,
“…not hesitate to engage just because there are civilians. It is the duty of the civilians to flee or seek cover. We will face charges, sometimes massacre, you know a bullet hits through and through, one squeeze of the Armalite, it bursts out about three, four. Keep on pressing”.
Duterte continued,
President Rodrigo Duterte and his military commanders have revealed the extent of ISIS atrocities in the southern Philippine city of Marawi which is still partly controlled by the Salafist terrorist group.
Philippine troops have recently discovered 17 beheaded bodies while reports of widespread looting and human sex slavery rampant at the hands of ISIS continue to roll in from Marawi.
A breakaway jihadist group operating on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao has reportedly taken hostages at a school in a village of Cotabato province.
The ISIS-linked Salafist group called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) are the apparent culprits.
The Manila Bulletin reports that among the hostages are six children.
Local police Chief Inspector Realan Mamon has said,
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has appeared in public after five days of absence due to reportedly bad health.
In a statement to Philippine troops fighting the ISIS insurgency in the southern Philippine city of Marawi he said,
“The fighting is going on, but it’s winding up.
It’s difficult to fight those who are willing to die. They have corrupted the name of God in the form of religion to kill many innocent people, for nothing”.
Today, Philippines celebrates 199 years of independence from Spain, but it was during that fateful year of 1898 that the country switched one colonial master for another.
