The government has vowed that the cruel and “mindless acts” of the Abu Sayyaf Group will “not go unpunished” after troops recovered the remains of beheaded German hostage Jurgen Kantner in Sulu.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella extended anew the government’s sympathies to the family of Kantner and assured the government is determined to address the “evils of extremism and plain banditry.”
“The Philippine government is deeply saddened but resolved as ever to respond to the recent discovery of the body of Mr. Jurgen Kantner, a German national, in the interiors of Talibang, Barangay Buanza, Indanan, Sulu,” Abella said.
“We reiterate our sincere sympathies to the family of Mr. Kantner, as well as to the rest of the German people, for this modern-day cruelty. Rest assured these mindless acts will not go unpunished,” he said.
Kantner’s remains were found in Sulu by the Marine Battalion Landing Team 3 under the Joint Task Force Sulu,
according to a military report. The German national, abducted from his yacht in November, was killed by the ASG after its deadline for ransom payment lapsed. His body will reportedly be returned to Germany.
Abella affirmed the government’s resolve to fight terrorism, which the President has claimed is the “twin scourge of narco-politics.”
“President Duterte has declared time and again that terrorism is the twin scourge of narco-politics and that this government will leave no stone unturned in squarely addressing the evils of extremism and plain banditry,” he said. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)