MANILA - The incoming chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is ready to hunt down members of the Abu Sayyaf 24/7 despite President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's reported openness to conducting peace talks with the bandit group.

In an interview, incoming AFP chief of staff Ricardo Visaya said he will have to wait for his instructions from Duterte on July 1.

"That is the prerogative of the President. Malalaman natin ang instruction niya on July 1 but insofar as I am concerned, I will fight them 24/7," he said.

The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of a few hundred Islamic militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network that has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.

The group has been linked to the kidnapping of two Canadians, a Norwegian, and a Filipino last year. The Canadians were later beheaded while the Filipino has been freed. The fourth hostage has not been released by the group.

The Abu Sayyaf has also been linked to the abduction of seven Indonesian seamen in waters off Sulu last week. The kidnapping prompted Jakarta to ban any Indonesian-flagged vessel from sailing to the Philippines. With a report by Agence France-Presse