In a speech in which he denounced the Islamic State for its "barbaric practice,"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gave a stern warning to the extremist group, saying he can be "10 times" more brutal.
Duterte delivered the speech at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on Monday, a few days after he claimed that ISIS followers posing as missionaries have already started radicalizing Filipinos in Mindanao, the main southern island of the Philippines.
He did not elaborate on that claim.
The controversial Filipino leader, whose crackdown on his country's long-standing drug problems involved killing hundreds of suspected drug dealers, told soldiers during a speech last week in Mindanao's province of Zamboanga del Sur that in "three to seven years," the country will be plagued with "the ISIS disease."
"They are not armed, but they are here for indoctrination," Duterte said,according to the Philippine Inquirer. "That's what I'm afraid of."
During his speech Monday, Duterte said the terrorist group does have not any political ideology and does not have "any concept of what God really is."
"You maim people, you kill them," Duterte said. "People who refuse to have sex with them, they simply burn them."
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte arrives at Camp Crame Philippine National Police headquarters, in suburban Quezon city, Manila, on July 1. (Aaron Favila/AP)
He also warned that confronting the terrorist group will "bring the worst out of me," adding that he will never allow his country to be destroyed by terrorism, even if it meant being forced out of office.
"If you can do it, I can do it 10 times better than you, definitely," Duterte said. "I'll put at stake my honor, my life and the presidency."
Last month, Reuters reported that a 20-minute video showed Southeast Asian militants who claimed to be ISIS fighters urging Muslims to unite under Abu Abdullah, leader of the Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf.
"If you cannot go to [Syria], join up and go to the Philippines," a man identified as Mohd Rafi Udin, a Malaysian militant, said in Malay.
