Duterte wants military to revise doctrines on addressing urban terrorism

Apart from pursuing plans to upgrade their equipment, President Duterte has directed the military to revise its doctrines on how to address urban terrorism.

The President admitted that government troops were having some difficulty in dealing with such challenge, adding the military could learn from the resolution of the conflicts in Mosul, Iraq, and Aleppo, Syria previously attacked by the Islamic State militants.

“I know that my Armed Forces and my Police, PNP (Philippine National Police) kailangan mag-upgrade, kailangan ng mga bagong [need to upgrade, need new] equipment to cope up with the present challenges of today, especially terrorism. Eh parang nahihirapan ho tayo dito [We’re apparently having difficulty here],” the President said during the Philippine Army turnover ceremony in Taguig City.

“We have to revise the doctrines actually because we are facing an enemy that is well entrenched and it is an urban fighting,” he said.

He noted that the conflicts in Aleppo and Mosul took several months before being resolved by their respective government forces. He said the resolution took so long since the troops had to move “inch for inch” as their enemies had “prepositioned maneuvers.”

“Because of the prepositioned maneuvers by the enemies and the fact that you have to breach semento pati bakal [cement and steel] and that takes a lot of hard work,” he said.

“Kaya inabot tayo ng ganito kasi the terrain has changed considerably. Maybe you’d want to take a look at seriously how Mosul, Aleppo and the rest of the territories are being taken now and how long it has been for them to do it,” he said.

Duterte, however, said the country was still lucky since the conflict in Marawi City will be over soon.

“I would credit it to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the toil of the Philippine National Police. Hindi ho madali ‘yung trabaho na ‘yan [That job is not easy],” he said.

The President said he often visited troops in Marawi to show solidarity amid the fight against the remaining Islamic State-linked rebels.

He explained that he had to declare martial law in Mindanao to quell the rebellion in Marawi and prevent its spillover elsewhere. Otherwise, Duterte said he would have been impeached from office for not addressing the threat.

“I sent you there for some to die, to be brutal about it. I do not want it. I would never have thought I would have done it,” he said.

“But because of the terroristic activities all over the world, we have to meet the challenges and in the process, talagang i-declare ko or else, I will be impeached for not only the ignorance but maybe the outright gross negligence of a President,” he said.

He said he has a duty “to protect the people and preserve the Republic of the Philippines.” “That is why it is a burden to me as it is on you. You are not less important than me. And so you are all co-workers in government,” he told the troops.

Government troops have been battling with Maute terror group in Marawi City since May 23.

The military operations have been hampered by the rebels’ use of civilians as human shields and mosques as staging attacks.

As of October 5, 753 enemies, 144 troops, and 47 civilians have died in Marawi.