MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday he would flood conflict-wracked areas in Mindanao, which helped propel him to victory in the last elections.

Duterte said he won by landslide margins in many areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where he launched a comprehensive development plan.

"You made me president. Ngayon tapos na ang eleksyon, pangako ko sa inyo... bubuhusan ko ng pera ang Moro region [I won by a landslide in almost all Moro regions. You made me president. Now that the election is over, I promise you, I will pour funds to the Moro region]," Duterte said in a televised speech from Cotabato City.

Duterte said he would focus on solving hunger in the region, which is saddled with a decades-long Muslim rebellion.

Farm tractors and fishing boats will be distributed in the area to boost agriculture, he said.

Hospitals will be built on the remote islands of Jolo and Basilan using a P1-billion donation from a businessman, who he refused to identify, the President said.

Duterte appealed to ARMM residents to give him "more time" to end the conflict.

The President has reached out to both the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front to end fighting that has mired the southern region in poverty.

In a separate event at the Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City, some P1.4 billion in assistance and scholarships were handed out.

Government agencies there distributed seedlings for farmers and sewing machines. --with reports from Jewel Reyes, ABS-CBN News