Terror in Bohol

For a supposedly tough "strongman" type of leader, the enemies of the Philippines seem to be on the rise on Duterte's watch. You got the Chinese building artificial islands near the country but to be fair, there's little we can do about that. You got the NPA in the strongest position they've ever been for years and making all sorts of outrageous demands while adhering to a very loose definition of "ceasefire". You got communists infesting the cabinet ready to implement their obsolete ideas and lastly, you got the Abu Sayyaf acting up again. Remember those assholes?

The Abu Sayyaf are currently hiding out in some ditch somewhere in Bohol. Thankfully, many of them have already been killed including their waste-of-life leader although government forces sustained some casualties. The Abu Sayyaf's plan was pretty audacious - sailing all the way to Bohol with all those men and equipment and intent on kidnapping some unlucky foreigners as is their modus operandi. Worse, they managed to evade capture for quite a length of time. What gives? You'd think they'd be scared of Duterte.

For his part, Duterte has offered a one million peso bounty per head on the Abu Sayyaf, dead or alive. He's ramped up the rhetoric and gave the order to have them all killed but that's pretty much what was gonna happen anyway. I dunno. It might not be fair to say this but there seems to be a lack of zeal coming from the President. When it comes to two-bit (alleged) street druggies, he rants and raves but when it comes to actual direct threats to the state, he's pretty blase. Giving the NPA the time of day was bad enough but the Abu Sayyaf have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. They're not even making the minimum effort of at least pretending to fight for their own Islamic state or some political goal. How lazy. They're really just a bunch of bandits at this point.

The Abu Sayyaf should have just sailed to Bohol to enjoy the sights and the beaches instead of trying to kidnap people. It's summer after all. Time for vacation! Hey Omar, drop that gun and bring the banig. Find a nice white sand beach and take a load off. You know, you can just relax under the shade of a palm tree after eating some lechon halal food while sipping some cool coconut juice. Wouldn't that be the life?

Not for them, hopefully.