President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she is "not a happy warrior" but vowed to crush the Abu Sayyaf group with an indefinite all-out war on the group's three-island stronghold in the southernmost tip of the southern Philippines, if they do not surrender, or give up their two hostages.

"I have said this before and I will say it again: I am not a happy warrior. But if this is what the circumstances require in order to defend the lives of our people and to established peace and stability, so be it," Arroyo said at the Edwin Andrews Air Base (EAAB) in Sta. Maria in Zamboanga.

She flew to Jolo, where she attended another command conference at Camp Teodulfo Bautista. "I told the armed forces that there is no deadline in this operation. They have all the time. They can stay here as long as they want to neutralise the Abu Sayyaf group," Arroyo said in Zamboanga City, a developed port area near Jolo.

"To the Abu Sayyaf, therefore, I say to them, if you value your life, you'd better surrender," Arroyo added. The group, she said, was not worth negotiating with. "The Abu Sayyaf are not political rebels. They are terrorists and that's the way we will deal with them. So, there is no peace with the Abu Sayyaf."

The main aim is the safe recovery of American hostage Jeffrey Schilling, and Filipino diver Roland Ullah, said Arroyo who had rejected requests for negotiations for the two remaining hostages. "This is a fight to the finish, the operation has no deadline," she said.

The annihilation of the Abu Sayyaf was imperative for the government's goal to attain a comprehensive peace in Jolo, and in the whole of Mindanao, said Arroyo, adding the war-torn southern island must undergo much needed rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya said the temporary reprieve for Schilling would not last if Arroyo would not pull-out the marines in Jolo and Basilan.

Sabaya also accused the government of killing civilians more than Abu Sayyaf rebels, in response to the military report that six Abu Sayyaf rebels were killed and 12 others arrested since the start of the government's all out war against the group.

The military said it had recovered a cache of high-powered firearms that were left behind by the separatist rebels. Sabaya boasted that his group will soon receive high-powered war materiel, but did not say who is assisting him.