FACT CHECK: Duterte changes tune on ending conflict in Mindanao within his term

From vowing to bring peace in Mindanao before the end of his six-year term in 2022, President Rodrigo Duterte now says it would “take more than a generation” to do so, following the twin bombings that rocked Jolo on Aug. 24.

Watch this video:

Authorities have said the two explosions in Jolo, Sulu province — which killed at least 14 persons and wounded 75 others — were likely set off by two suicide bombers; one is believed to be a widow of an Abu Sayyaf member, and the other, a widow of Norman Lasuca, the first local to commit such attack, based on several media reports.

Duterte enacted Republic Act 11054, which established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, in July 2018. (See SONA 2018 Promise Tracker: Peace Agenda; VERA FILES FACT SHEET: What’s next if BOL is ratified?)

In the same Aug. 30 speech, the president also said he “hope[s] that any one of [his] children would become a politician,” even if only as a barangay captain, so that they can “do something about the problem of the Moro and the Christians.”

Three of Duterte’s four children are holding public office. His eldest, Paolo, is deputy speaker and 1st district Davao City representative, while Sara succeeded her father as mayor of Davao City, with Sebastian as vice mayor.