Duterte vows to send PH troops to help Jordan if needed
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday vowed to provide Jordan with Philippine troops to bolster its Armed Forces if needed.
In a speech during the business forum in Jordan, Duterte said that he would be willing to lend a hand, including sending troops, as proof of their good relationship.
“If there is anything that we can do, if you are short of your army, let me know. How much or how — You need one battalion? Two, three, four, five? I’ll send them to you,” Duterte said.
“Of course, I’ll leave you my guarantee that we will be friends and we will nurse and nurture it fully so that someday my people can really say that you paved the way for the good relationship,” Duterte said.
The Chief Executive also said that he would commit the Philippine government on the “right side of history.”
“The right side of history is that you are fair and that you can understand the problems of humanity and that you realize that you need as much as I need you in order to [work?] this place called Earth, beautiful and working for all of us,” Duterte said.
Jordan has been dealing with threats posed by the IS extremist group, which claimed responsibility for the attack on Karak, a popular tourist destination in Jordan, in 2016.
The country is a member of the US-led coalition fighting IS.
Terrorists also struck southern Philippines when the IS-inspired Maute group seized Marawi City in May 2017 in its bid to establish a caliphate to be led by Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon.
The Marawi siege lasted for five months and according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, displaced 353, 921 individuals, or 77,179 families and destroyed billions of pesos worth of infrastructure.
Duterte signed Proclamation 216 on May 23, 2017, declaring martial law and suspending the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao for 60 days.
The declaration was then extended until the end of 2017, and then eventually, until the end of 2018, with the concurrence of Congress.
In June, Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., spokesman of Joint Task Force Ranao, confirmed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and remnants of the Maute group were engaged in a crossfire in Tubaran, Lanao del Sur. RALPH VILLANUEVA
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