The United States on Monday hailed a Philippine court decision to designate the militant Abu Sayyaf group as terrorist organization.
“While the Philippine government has long been pursuing the Abu Sayyaf Group and its network, this designation allows the Philippines to apply a greater range of legal tools to that effort,” US Embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer said in a statement sent to GMA News Online.
The designation could help stem financial support to the group, enable the government to prosecute its members and seek the court's approval to put suspected militants under surveillance.
Judge Danilo Bucoy of the Regional Trial Court Branch 9 in Isabela City, Basilan granted a request from the Department of Justice to declare the armed group as a terrorist and outlawed organization.
In a 19-page resolution, a copy of which the Department of Justice released to the media on Friday, the Basilan court took into consideration the "essential elements" to declare someone or a group as a terrorist under RA 9370 or the Human Security Act of 2007.
Judge Danilo Bucoy of the Regional Trial Court Branch 9 in Isabela City, Basilan granted a request from the Department of Justice to declare the armed group as a terrorist and outlawed organization.
In a 19-page resolution, a copy of which the Department of Justice released to the media on Friday, the Basilan court took into consideration the "essential elements" to declare someone or a group as a terrorist under RA 9370 or the Human Security Act of 2007.
Philippines-U.S. counter-terrorism cooperation has successfully led to the killing of key local terrorists from the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.
For more than a decade, US Special Forces provided combat training and weapons to the Philippine military to fight extremist groups blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks.
The Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for kidnapping and beheading of foreign hostages, including Americans, is on Washington's list of foreign terrorists and said to have links with the Al-Qaeda, although a number of its commanders, according to reports, have pledged allegiance to the extremist Islamic State group.
“The US has a close and longstanding relationship with the government of the Philippines and its security and law enforcement services. We appreciate the efforts by the government of the Philippines to continue to combat terrorism,” Hoyer said.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/536812/news/nation/us-hails-phl-designation-of-abu-sayyaf-as-terror-organization
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