Kill them all. That's currently the president's directive to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the police. He even snubbed the offer for a dialogue coming from the mother herself of the Maute brothers, the main group leading the attack. President Duterte's decision not to accept the offer for a talk was simple: he has several policemen and military killed already. There is no need for a talk then. The terrorists have to suffer no less than death.
He is right. There should be no dialogue with the ISIS. What is the use of dialogue? They will just get more time to prepare themselves for an even bigger battle. That should not be allowed. They must be destroyed in the bud itself.
That's what people love about President Duterte. He has no non-sense policy against the terrorist. He is wants an all out war because he knows that if their is dialogue, nothing positive would came about it. The government have already put a $10 million bounty on the head of the leader of the Maute and for sure its just a matter of time close to him would turn to government and point where they are hiding. Similar to what happened to a Marwan(another terrorist) who was killed by the AFP, but unfortunately a lot has died on the government forces (SAF-44). No dialogue, they have started this siege in Marawi, Duterte will finished it.
Still, this incident makes me less optimistic of the situation there. There were many people online blatantly rooting for the terrorists even though it were mostly Muslims suffering from the siege. Duterte even blamed some people there for tolerating the rise of these fundamentalists.
It is not surprising. Even in the Western nations such as the United Kingdom, there are a lot of Muslims who openly support the radical terrorist organizations such as the ISIS and the Al Qaeda. Any attempt to weed out these people is termed as an attack against Muslims.
I was getting really angry as I read the few posts that were written in Filipino and English. The rest is in their language and some are also in Arabic script. I'd would say we exchange them with Malaysia like Pakistan and India exchanged people but it's unlikely Malaysia would like all of them (except during election period there).
It's not a surprise that ISIS could easily enter the Philippines. Why? Government supports them just to lead a rebellion against the current administration. At first, Maute, Abu Sayaff and NPA are the one terrorizing the south part of the Philippines especially in mindanao. This group cannot operate without sponsors. Philippines is already under Siege way back Marcos terms. It just so happen that this ISIS can caused a lot of damage to a small country like Philippines.
These groups has caused trouble for multiple administrations. Yes, even the past one. If they were indeed receiving government support, it would be from individual actors, rather than the government as a whole.
IMHO the real problem is the government overall failure to monopolize violence as well as lax border control with Malaysia where these groups are also receiving support.