Screengrab by Daily Mail of the alleged Filipino ISIS fighter in Syria.
The military is checking the veracity of a news report that a Filipino jihadist has become a member of the extremist ISIS and is now fighting for the group in Syria.
"Yes, we've already seen his photographs posted on the Internet by an independent news website. We're checking the veracity of the photograph and it's too early to conclude because he might not be a Filipino after all. He has the semblance of an Asian but not necessarily a Filipino," Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Public Affairs Office chief, told Interaksyon.com on Wednesday.
There are persistent reports that some ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) personalities are now in the Philippines but authorities insist that they have no confirmatory reports about such information.
There are at least five Muslim extremist groups that are prone to being influenced by ISIS, according to the military. These are the Abu Sayyaf Group, Jemaah Islamiyah, Rajah Solaiman Movement, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and Khilafa Islamiyah Mindanao.
This year, two suspected ISIS sympathizers or supporters of foreign origins were arretsed and deported by the Philippines government to their countries of origin.
On July 11, Australian 29-year-old Musa Cerantonio, a Christian convert to Islam, was arrested in Cebu. Authorities said Cerantonio had been in the country for nearly a year until he got arrested for actively promoting "inspirations" supporting the ISIS in Syria and Iraq via the social media.
Another suspected ISIS supporter identified as Dr. Abu Ameen Bilal Philipps, a Canadian, arrested in Davao City.
Since the rise of the so-called ISIS caliphate, the security sector admitted monitoring a rising number of "Filipino Muslim jihobbyists" using the Internet, who could be potential supporters or recruits of the ISIS.
On condition that his name would not be revealed because of his lack of authority to speak on the matter, a security expert said that in principle, "the ideology of Islamic State is indeed already being introduced" to Filipino Muslim extremists but a full-fledged member of ISIS personally doing recruitment in the Philippines is "ridiculous." The source says it's possible that the recruitment is being done via cyberspace.
"Our intelligence capability is not that bad. In fact, we’ve already deported two foreign nationals with IS jihad orientations," the source said.
"The IS has been using the boundless cyberspace to recruit members from around the world especially in countries like ours where there are Islam fundamentalists or radicals. Not even advance countries can stop that, say the United States, which has its very own Edward Snowden," the expert said.
Citing a monitoring report from the intelligence sector, the expert said there are 15,000 "likers" of jihadist ideology being promoted by IS through Facebook. However, when the accounts of the likers were scrutinized, majority are fake and duplicates.
The "likers" originated from a single urban center in Mindanao, according to the expert.
The source said social media has become an effective medium for the ISIS to recruit members.
"At least 28,000 Twitter accounts popped up in the summer of 2014. Right after a video came out of the beheading of American journalist James Foley, there were 60,000 jihadi accounts (that were) registered," he said.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/99532/isis-jihadist-in-syria-is-filipino-afp-checking
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