Bombing of Davao City: Your move, Rody!

09/21/2016 | 9:16 0 Posted in Regional, The World, Uncategorized

The Bombing of Davao City by the AbuSayyaf Group, or one of its allies, has upped the stakes in Southern Philippines.

However, Rodrigo Duterte, the outspoken President of the Philippines is no ordinary man. the list of the people that he has openly abused without fear or regret is reading like another encyclopedic who’s who.
From the Pope to President Obama and to the Secretary of the United Nations, they have all suffered verbal abuse from the person they call The punisher; in his angry responses he has added another very violent group, the Abu Sayyaf Group to the list of those who have been punished by his outrageous utterances..
In a spontaneous response to the bombing of his city, Davao City, he has come up with another masterpiece of his in which he has told that Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) that he will eat the Abus; he just asked for vinegar and salt.
He mentioned this while addressing the Pinoys who had gathered at Vientane, when he was on his visit there a couple of days ago. He told the cheering members of the community at the Feungfar Community Center in Vientane that he would make the Moros pay for this misadventure, he just wanted time to plan and execute in a proper manner.
And, then we will crush them to make them pay, reminding the gathered people of his past way of functioning; he only requested them to wait and watch.
Even while this was being stated by the President, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were in the process of moving ten battalions comprising 400 men each for pursuit and attack on about a thousand rebels and their supporters in the Sulu province.
He promised the Pinoys that, by the time his term comes to an end in 2022, they will have the end of the armed uprising by the Moros and the decimation of the Abu Sayyaf Group if they chose the path over merging peacefully with the mainstream.
Through this statement he reflect some elements of a split personality of two great personalities; the first was the unforgettable Idi Amin, the cannibalistic Dictator of Uganda who was reported to be eating pieces of human flesh as a regular measure.
The other was the great man, Archimedes himself when he was talking about the power of a lever in which he said Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
In a similar vein, Duterte asked for vinegar and salt so that he could eat the whole outfit of the ASG.
The wordings however reflect the feeling of anger and frustration of the head of state who is trying to rid his motherland of the terrible problems posed by a massive terrorist and illegal drugs problem.
With the recent blast in Davao City, the Moros have upped the ante by striking at the core of his stronghold to taunt him and pose a challenge as if to say, the ball is in your court, Rody.
Which reminds me of an exhortation by the popular (albeit notorious) leader himself; he asked his countrymen to build more funeral parlors since there was going to be bloodshed to cleanse his country of the afflictions that it was suffering from.
Fresh insights
His heart is surely bleeding from the helplessness and he must be getting fresh insights as to why his predecessors could not provide any solutions to the terrorist and illegal drugs problems.
This warning was issued by the President when he realized that the Moros mean business, and were itching for a fight; both sides are likely to end up with bloody noses quite soon if they do not obliterate each other altogether.
This act of terrorism is ominous since it is not known as to what shape and extent the resultant action will be.
It has made the President pause and rethink not only his strategy but also his take on the reasons why his predecessors were unable to achieve any measure of success in tackling his country’s problems.
The revision of his thinking is clearly reflected from the change in his way of referring to the Abus; his earlier opinion about the ASG was that they were not criminals but a desperate group of moros underwent a sea change and resulted in the warning to them.
There was also no reference to the inability of the previous governments to find the required solutions; he seems to have come face to face with the stark reality.
The mention of the previous governments’ failed promises was conspicuous by its absence and reflected a veritable shift in his understanding of the realities of his country.
By detonating this bomb, the Moros have put their rebellion in fast-forward mode by taunting Duterte to show what he was made off; this is a direct challenge which might see some ferocious fighting and heavy bloodshed.
No alternative
The war being waged by the Moros has gone much beyond the stage of demands and ideologies and had turned into the criminal exploitation of the people through collection of illegal taxes apart from extortions, kidnappings and beheading of those who chose to or were unable to pay hefty ransoms to get back their loved one who had been kidnapped.
Then, amidst laughter from the whole crowd that included quite a few children, the President claimed that he could eat human and would do so if he could face them and they annoy him beyond a certain point.
Addressing the Abu Sayyaf Group he exhorted them to go ahead and set off bombs; the time will come when he would eat them in public and, if necessary, he will obliterate them from the face of the earth.
He asked the Filipinos to show some understanding and support in the matter of the take no prisoners tactics that he is employing to counter the enormous narcotics trade that has seeped into the very core of Filipino society to the extent of involving members from all walks of life including lawmakers and government officials.
He went on to reveal that as a consequence of his policies, more than 2000 drug related deaths have occurred inviting condemnation from the international community.
To give up now or retract from the current war on illegal drugs and the terrorist organizations, would be tantamount to compromisimg the livers and the future of our coming generations.
He then assured them he, who had been entrusted with the responsibility of the country had taken up the task of cleansing the country and ridding it of all the ills that are spoiling the prospects of the next generation; no force on earth can make me give up this responsibility.