MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippine president said Wednesday that Abu Sayyaf militants may have plotted to kill him and kidnap boxing star Manny Pacquiao, disclosing previously unknown details about an extremist group blamed for the beheading of a Canadian hostage.
President Benigno Aquino III said the Muslim militants also wanted to explode bombs in metropolitan Manila to try to get funding from the Islamic State group but the plans were uncovered and troops have reduced the Abu Sayyaf’s ability to inflict harm.
Aquino, whose six-year term ends in June, vowed “to devote all my energies” to ensure that the extremists would be “at the very least … a very seriously degraded problem” for his successor.
While he has forged a peace pact with a larger Muslim rebel group, Aquino said there is no possibility of engaging in talks with the brutal Abu Sayyaf, which is accused of beheading Canadian John Ridsdel on Monday in southern Sulu province.
“We have always believed in the power of dialogue, development and positive engagement over arms,” Aquino said. But he said of the Abu Sayyaf, “You have chosen only the language of force and we will speak to you only in that language.”