To secure the release of three Filipino engineers hostaged by an unknown group, President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday he will send two frigates to Libya.
Duterte made the remark after reports that the South Korean government deployed a warship as a show of force, aiming to secure the release of one of its nationals who was abducted along with the three Filipinos.
“The Koreans have sent a ship. You know I am not joking. I will also send one if they begin to hurt the Filipinos there. I will send a frigate…I will send two. You fools,” Duterte said Friday night in a speech in Bukidnon.
The President said the abduction will be part of the agenda of a joint military-police command conference on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Duterte said he has yet to look through the plan on the safe release of the hostages.
He added that he plans to tackle the matter when the Cabinet meets on Monday.
“I would like to make the announcement in this Cabinet meeting, then here in the command conference of police and military. I want you to come up with a modality and raise the bar higher,” Duterte said.
The three Filipinos and Korean were abducted at a water project site in western Libya.