President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday the series of abduction by the Abu Sayyaf militants has damaged the image of Philippines and it needs to stop.
During the turnover of command ceremony of the Davao City Police, Duterte said he would have "to confront the Abu Sayyaf."
"I don't want to fight with anybody but there will be a time, I just don't want to say it, that I will have to confront Abu Sayyaf," he told Philippines Daily Inquirer.
He also added that "Kidnapping must stop. It has given us a very bad image".
After the Abu Sayyaf group released Marites Flor, the Flipina hostage on Friday morning, Duterte issued the statement.
Duterte also said that he negotiated for the release of Flor with the help of the Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan II and they are still negotiating the release of a Norwegian hostage.
Flor was kidnapped along with her Canadian boyfriend Robert Hall and two more foreigners who were identified as Canadian John Ridsdel and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, by the Abu Sayyaf on Samal Island in September last year.
The militants beheaded Ridsdel and Hall after their ransom demands were not met.
Duterte warned the Abu Sayyaf group and said that there would be "a day of reckoning." He requested the public to give him some time to confront the group and sort out this problem.
