Duterte: Maute Group’s arsenal could match AFP’s

By Carolyn O. Arguillas
MindaNews

DAVAO City — President Rodrigo Duterte over the weekend said the Marawi Crisis is not a case of failure of intelligence but a case of connivance of politicians and warlords who allowed the Maute Group to stockpile firearms and ammunition in Marawi City that “could match even the firepower of the Armed Forces (of the Philippines).”

As the Marawi Crisis entered Day 26 last Saturday, Duterte told reporters in Butuan City, that the Maute Group does not seem to run out of bullets, conceding that the government’s only advantage is its air assets “pero on the ground, they (Maute Group) do not run out of bullets.”

He did not name the politicians or warlords. But two former mayors were among those named in Defense Secretary Delfin Loren-zana’s Arrest Orders No. 1 and 2, one of them, Fajad Umpar Salic, arrested at a checkpoint in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental at around 7:30 pm on June 7.

Addressing soldiers of the 401st Brigade under the 4th Infantry Divisions’ advance command post in Bancasi, Butuan City, Duterte acknowledged that government “adopted a very soft policy towards rebels” in view of the peace processes with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Some of those bearing arms, he said, would claim they were from the MILF or MNLF and the standing order to government security forces was to talk with them to avoid trouble.

“We took it (issue on firearms) for granted” because “we never knew at that time kung sino ba talaga ang kalaban. Yun bang mga politiko na nag-aaway. nagriido sila or itong mga private armies ng politicians?”

Duterte noted that the Maute Group took advantage of the situation by “bringing firearms surreptitiously” into Marawi City.

“All the while, itong Maute, with the connivance of the politicians there, ‘yung mga warlords, were stockpiling. Kaya ni hindi maubos ‘yung M-203 na bala at napakarami.”

Government fires one, they will fire back five, Duterte said of the seemingly “endless supply when Maute rose to fight against government.”

He estimated the military build-up of the Maute Group in Marawi at around three years.

Later, Duterte told reporters that politicians provided the Maute Group money to buy these arms “but what fueled yung gyera talaga dito sa Marawi is the drug money of the Maute.”

MindaNews sources in Marawi said it is no secret that families store firearms in their houses and in the conflict zone, terrorists could easily add up to their firepower by using the firearms inside the houses and buildings.

Duterte told his troops that the Maute Group was merely waiting for a “bikil,” a reason for them to fire back and that reason was the service of the warrant of arrest against Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon on May 23.

He refers to the foreign fighters in Marawi City as a “conglomeration of ISIS fighters from Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Arabs.” (mindanews)