The Philippines’ likely next president, Rodrigo Duterte, does not claim to know everything about some of the problems besetting the South-East Asian country.

But analysts noted that the 71-year-old has a deep understanding of the decades-old conflict that has wracked the southern region of Mindanao, putting him in a strong position to deal with it.

Official confirmation is pending, but Duterte is set to become the first president of the predominantly Catholic country to come from Mindanao, home of the archipelago’s Muslim minority and a hotbed of insurgency and terrorism.

… Security expert Rohan Gunaratna said he expects Duterte to be “bold” in efforts to keep in check any possibility that the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed a peace deal with the government in 1996, would take up arms again.

“A practical man, Duterte will work with the devil if necessary to restore peace and stability,” said Gunaratna, head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.