{"id":916250,"date":"2017-07-23T07:20:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-22T23:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=916250"},"modified":"2017-07-23T00:08:38","modified_gmt":"2017-07-22T16:08:38","slug":"president-tells-military-wait-dont-rush-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/916250\/president-tells-military-wait-dont-rush-things","title":{"rendered":"President tells military: Wait, don\u2019t rush things"},"content":{"rendered":"
President Rodrigo Duterte. MALACA\u00d1ANG PHOTO<\/p><\/div>\n
ILIGAN CITY \u2014 Wait it out. Do not attack. We do not want to kill people.<\/p>\n\n
Surprisingly, the words came from President Rodrigo Duterte who, on Friday, asked the military not to rush things in Marawi City lest they endanger the lives of some 300 hostages still being held by the Maute gunmen.<\/p>\n\n
Speaking before businessmen during an investment conference in Davao City, the President said he had asked the military not to launch a major offensive against the terrorist group and their allies who were holed up in a mosque inside the war zone in Marawi City.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI said we have to wait it out. I said do not attack. You can fire shots, but if you launch an assault, they\u2019re going to behead people there,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n\n
The lives of the hostages are equally important, Mr. Duterte added. \u201cIt\u2019s not important to me if they\u2019re Moro, Christian or Vietnamese. (What\u2019s) important is we do not want to kill people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
It was the government\u2019s \u201cmoral duty\u201d to make sure the hostages were alive, even if the war drags on for a year, Mr. Duterte said.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSo, even if it\u2019s expensive … if you see someone running, you can open fire. But no assault. That\u2019s 300 lives. If you have to wait there for one year, let us wait for one year,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n\n
The military should also allow food to reach the hostages. \u201cNot bullets. Only food,\u201d Mr. Duterte said. \u201cIt\u2019s our moral duty to see to it that they live and that they are fed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n
Despite the cautious approach, the President expressed confidence that the gunfight, which has so far killed 99 soldiers, 421 militants and 45 civilians, would end soon.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe fighting in Marawi would soon be over. The one thing that\u2019s stopping us now is the mosque. It\u2019s a big one (and) it has underground tunnels. (It\u2019s) not so much about (the terrorists), but they have 300 hostages,\u201d Mr. Duterte said.<\/p>\n\n
The military said targeting Muslims hiding inside the mosque could be costly to them.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIf we target them, the Maute group will succeed in convincing people that this fight is against Muslims,\u201d Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera, Task Force Marawi spokesperson, said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s against terror,\u201d he clarified.<\/p>\n\n
Maranao Army officers said that the Maute group had been twisting facts to pursue its own agenda of widening the gap between Muslims and Christians.<\/p>\n\n
In his social media post, Semion Almujaheed, the self-styled propagandist of the Maute group, said those fighting against them were \u201csoldiers of the cross\u201d or members of the \u201ccrusader army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
But Capt. Abdullah Mocsana of the Army\u2019s 103rd Infantry Brigade denied this. \u201cWe\u2019re not soldiers of the cross as they have been claiming. We are here fighting evil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
He added: \u201cIslam itself means peace and Muslims are peaceful people. When you kill women, children and the defenseless, you are not a Muslim anymore. You have denounced Islam and you become apostate. That\u2019s what they have been doing.\u201d \u2014Jeoffrey Maitem and Allan Nawal<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wait it out. Do not attack. We do not want to kill people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":911718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,34,37,45],"tags":[205851,8330],"byline":[],"source":[206070],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n