[Gulf Today] The Philippine president said on Wednesday that Abu Sayyaf rebels may have plotted to kill him and kidnap boxing star Manny Pacquiao. President Benigno Aquino III said the insurgents also wanted to explode bombs in metropolitan Manila to try to get funding from the Daesh group but the plans were uncovered and troops have reduced the militants ability to inflict harm.Aquino promised "to devote all my energies" to ensure that the rebels would be "at the very least ... a very seriously degraded problem" for his successor.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the hostage beheading, a senior military officer who led operations against Abu Sayyaf has been relieved of his command. Military spokesman Restituto Padilla announced the removal of Brigadier General Alan Arrojado as the commander of the Army’s 501st Brigade based on Midanao's island province of Sulu.
Padilla insisted that Arrojado's removal was not connected with the killing of Canadian national John Ridsdel whose decapitated head contained in a plastic bag was thrown by two motorcycle-riding men near the provincial capitol building in the town of Jolo, Sulu late on Monday night. He said that Arrojado has "overstayed" in his position, explaining that he had remained as the 501st Brigade commander for over two years.
Helped by helicopter gunships, the military continued their operation against the Abu Sayyaf with "no let-up" on orders of President Aquino until the Ridsdel killers have been arrested. Reliable sources said that Philippine security forces faced a dilemma because, in the ongoing campaign, they have to consider the safety of more than twenty people held hostage by the militants.
Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau who condemned Ridsdel's beheading as a "cold-blooded murder" confirmed that he continues to hold talks with Aquino on the possibility of co-operation in going after the killers. Trudeau said, "The discussions I had with President Aquino and are continuing to have with our allies in the Philippines is the need to bring these criminals to justice and to do whatever we can to express that we are very concerned about the security of Canadians. But, at the same time, we will not pay ransom."