From InterAksyon (Jan 11): MILF infighting erupts anew; 2,800 internally displaced remain in evacuation centers
PIKIT, North Cotabato - Warring members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) clashed anew in interior villages here despite efforts to separate warring families related both by blood and by affinity, police said.
Chief Inspector Sindatu Karim, Pikit town police chief, said the families of Bhuto Mantol attacked anew the communities in Barangay Talitay, where Mokamad Andoy and Ricky Husain, all leaders of the MILF, on Sunday dawn, triggering five hours of sporadic fire fight.
”No casualty was reported in the latest skirmishes,” Karim said.
He said that while the latest skirmishes did not hurt anybody, last Sunday’s trading of bullets and mortars has sent messages to displaced families their communities remain unsafe.
Per police assessment and evaluation, about 568 families or 2,831 individuals remain in various evacuation centers in Poblacion Pikit and nearby villages.
”This is an infighting among MILF leaders triggered by land dispute and family feud,” Karim said, adding the police have tried to mediate but they were met by gunfire from both sides.
”Our mandate is to secure the civilians. We will not interfere in the armed conflict because of the existing peace agreement between the government and the MILF,” Karim said in a radio interview.
”We look for MILF leaders’ action on this problem,” the police chief said.
”The national highway linking Cotabato and Davao is safe...We have enough police personnel securing the road network at the same time implementing election gun ban,” Karim said. Election gun ban commenced Sunday.
Von Al Haq, speaking for the MILF’s military arm, said emissaries have been sent but the team is yet to submit report to the MILF central committee.
To avoid the escalation of armed hostilities involving Moro rebels in North Cotabato’s Pikit town, Army and police forces have been deployed to serve as peacekeepers.
Karim said in an interview that soldiers from the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade were deployed Thursday along with the police near the village of Talitay.
”They are there to secure the civilians and not to fight the rebels,” Karim told reporters after two commanders of the MILF traded bullets at grenades due to “rido” or family feud.
To contain the flame standing between warring MILF commanders in his area of operation, Maj. Gen. Eduardo Pangilinan, 6th Infantry Division commander, has a standing directive to all Army units under the 6th ID not to engage warring Muslim families but secure civilians in the event infighting occurs.
Clan wars are common in communities in Maguindanao, including infighting among forces of the MILF, the biggest rebel movement that entered into a peace agreement with the government in 2014.
At the break of dawn Thursday, civilians with their valuables and work animals went on an exodus to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
Sadly, civilians suffer the most in armed conflict not of their own making in Pikit.
Karim said Commanders Andoy and Hussain allegedly refused to surrender to police authorities in Kabacan, North Cotabato one of his men suspected of killing Commander Mantol’s brother in Barangay Kayaga, Kabacan, North Cotabato.
Karim said the infighting broke out a few kilometers from Camp Rajamuda, a government recognized MILF areas and one of the biggest MILF camps in North Cotabato.
Tahira Kalantongan, Pikit Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer, said the evacuees fled to nearby Barangays Inug-og, Rajamuda, and Gli-Gli, also in Pikit.
Police and military authorities are hoping the MILF emissaries could bring the warring MILF leaders to the negotiating table so the displaced families could return home.
The skirmishes in Pikit came two days after unidentified armed men ambushed and killed village chairperson Pecson Mangansakan of Barangay Silik, Pikit, North Cotabato.
But Karim said the murder of Mangansakan was not related to the MILF infighting/
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/122535/milf-infighting-erupts-anew-2800-internally-displaced-remain-in-evacuation-centers
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Final delivery of 12,000 M4 carbine rifles now with AFP
From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 11): Final delivery of 12,000 M4 carbine rifles now with AFP
As part of its efforts to modernize the equipment of its troops, the Philippine Army has fully equipped its troops with Remington M4 carbine rifles after the final delivery of more than 12,000 firearms arrived last December.
This means that its procurement of 56,843 rifles, which will replace the M16 rifles issued to its troops, is now complete.
Col. Benjamin Hao, the Army spokesperson, said the newly delivered firearms would be lined up for ballistics tests with the Philippine National Police’s crime laboratory just like the 19,866 M4 rifles currently undergoing ballistics examination.
The final batch of 12,657 M4 carbine rifles were delivered last December.
“The target of the delivery of the 12,000 firearms was in the first quarter of this year, but the delivery came early. These will be distributed as well. We hope to distribute the rest of the rifles before the end of 2016,” Hao said.
The 56,843 M4 rifles were purchased in 2014 as part of its capability upgrade program.
The Remington M4 rifles, also known as R4A3 rifles, were purchased from United States-based company Remington Firearms Company.
The new firearms are meant to replace the M16 rifles currently issued to Army soldiers, with the M16 rifles to be refurbished and issued to Army reservists.
In August 2014, President Aquino himself led the ceremonial distribution of the firearms to the military.
However, some of the initially delivered 24,300 firearms were recalled because of defective rear sights. These were repaired by Remington at no cost to the Philippine government.
Hao added that the ballistics tests for the second delivery of 19,000 M4 rifles were not finished yet, as of Sunday, (the day this announcement was released to the media) because of the PNP’s limitations in conducting ballistic exams per day.
The first delivery of 24,000 M4 rifles were already subjected to ballistics tests and were already delivered to units in the Visayas and Mindanao, and some special units.
“Of course, in order for us to complete the distribution, we need all the 56,000 rifles,” Hao said.
The M16 rifles previously issued to the recipients of the new M4 rifles have been recalled.
These M16 rifles will be used by reservists and militiamen under the Army.
“Right now, the reservists and paramilitary are armed with M1 Garand rifles, so now they will be using M16 rifles,” the Army spokesperson said.
Both the M16 and M4 use 5.56 mm caliber bullets and are both gas-operated. The M16 rifle has a longer barrel and has a longer effectivity range of 550 meters, compared to the M4 rifle’s 500 meter effectivity range.
Hao described the M4 carbine rifle to be a world class weapon.
“That is an element of the modern army that we are aspiring to be, it is a world-class rifle. Our troops are proud to have this weapon, it is lighter but more powerful. This brings high morale to us to use a world class weapon,” he explained.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/754376/final-delivery-of-12000-m4-carbine-rifles-now-with-afp
As part of its efforts to modernize the equipment of its troops, the Philippine Army has fully equipped its troops with Remington M4 carbine rifles after the final delivery of more than 12,000 firearms arrived last December.
This means that its procurement of 56,843 rifles, which will replace the M16 rifles issued to its troops, is now complete.
Col. Benjamin Hao, the Army spokesperson, said the newly delivered firearms would be lined up for ballistics tests with the Philippine National Police’s crime laboratory just like the 19,866 M4 rifles currently undergoing ballistics examination.
The final batch of 12,657 M4 carbine rifles were delivered last December.
“The target of the delivery of the 12,000 firearms was in the first quarter of this year, but the delivery came early. These will be distributed as well. We hope to distribute the rest of the rifles before the end of 2016,” Hao said.
The 56,843 M4 rifles were purchased in 2014 as part of its capability upgrade program.
The Remington M4 rifles, also known as R4A3 rifles, were purchased from United States-based company Remington Firearms Company.
In August 2014, President Aquino himself led the ceremonial distribution of the firearms to the military.
However, some of the initially delivered 24,300 firearms were recalled because of defective rear sights. These were repaired by Remington at no cost to the Philippine government.
Hao added that the ballistics tests for the second delivery of 19,000 M4 rifles were not finished yet, as of Sunday, (the day this announcement was released to the media) because of the PNP’s limitations in conducting ballistic exams per day.
The first delivery of 24,000 M4 rifles were already subjected to ballistics tests and were already delivered to units in the Visayas and Mindanao, and some special units.
“Of course, in order for us to complete the distribution, we need all the 56,000 rifles,” Hao said.
The M16 rifles previously issued to the recipients of the new M4 rifles have been recalled.
These M16 rifles will be used by reservists and militiamen under the Army.
“Right now, the reservists and paramilitary are armed with M1 Garand rifles, so now they will be using M16 rifles,” the Army spokesperson said.
Both the M16 and M4 use 5.56 mm caliber bullets and are both gas-operated. The M16 rifle has a longer barrel and has a longer effectivity range of 550 meters, compared to the M4 rifle’s 500 meter effectivity range.
Hao described the M4 carbine rifle to be a world class weapon.
“That is an element of the modern army that we are aspiring to be, it is a world-class rifle. Our troops are proud to have this weapon, it is lighter but more powerful. This brings high morale to us to use a world class weapon,” he explained.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/754376/final-delivery-of-12000-m4-carbine-rifles-now-with-afp
SC to rule on EDCA tomorrow
From the Philippine Star (Jan 11): SC to rule on EDCA tomorrow
The Supreme Court (SC) is set to rule tomorrow on the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
An insider said the petitions filed in May last year by former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada and militant lawmakers led by Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate will be included in the agenda of the justices in their first regular session this year following a month-long holiday break.
The source said members of the high court are expected to arrive at a split decision, revealing that three magistrates have submitted dissenting opinions to the draft decision upholding the constitutionality of EDCA.
The SC was set to decide on the case on Nov. 10 and 16 last year before the arrival of US President Barrack Obama for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, but the high court failed to rule on the case because some justices were yet undecided.
The voting was then reset to Dec. 16, but was again deferred after some justices decided to come up with their respective opinions that required more time for deliberations.
The case was heard by the high court in oral arguments in November last year and had been up for resolution since December.
Petitioners alleged that EDCA violates provisions on national sovereignty, territorial integrity and interests, freedom from nuclear weapons and autonomy of local government units in the charter.
They also argued that EDCA is a treaty - not merely an executive agreement as the Palace has claimed – which needs concurrence of the Senate before it could be implemented.
Because of this, the groups said the agreement violates Article XVIII, Section 25 of the Constitution, which requires that any foreign military bases, troops or facilities “shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate.”
The government, through Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, had argued that the agreement is a valid executive agreement that could stand even without concurrence of the Senate.
Under the EDCA, the US will be allowed to build structures, store as well as preposition weapons, defense supplies, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels, and aircraft for a period of 10 years.
It was signed by officials of both countries hours before President Obama arrived in the country for his two-day state visit in 2014.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/11/1541371/sc-rule-edca-tomorrow
The Supreme Court (SC) is set to rule tomorrow on the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
An insider said the petitions filed in May last year by former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada and militant lawmakers led by Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate will be included in the agenda of the justices in their first regular session this year following a month-long holiday break.
The source said members of the high court are expected to arrive at a split decision, revealing that three magistrates have submitted dissenting opinions to the draft decision upholding the constitutionality of EDCA.
The SC was set to decide on the case on Nov. 10 and 16 last year before the arrival of US President Barrack Obama for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, but the high court failed to rule on the case because some justices were yet undecided.
The voting was then reset to Dec. 16, but was again deferred after some justices decided to come up with their respective opinions that required more time for deliberations.
The case was heard by the high court in oral arguments in November last year and had been up for resolution since December.
Petitioners alleged that EDCA violates provisions on national sovereignty, territorial integrity and interests, freedom from nuclear weapons and autonomy of local government units in the charter.
They also argued that EDCA is a treaty - not merely an executive agreement as the Palace has claimed – which needs concurrence of the Senate before it could be implemented.
Because of this, the groups said the agreement violates Article XVIII, Section 25 of the Constitution, which requires that any foreign military bases, troops or facilities “shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate.”
The government, through Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, had argued that the agreement is a valid executive agreement that could stand even without concurrence of the Senate.
Under the EDCA, the US will be allowed to build structures, store as well as preposition weapons, defense supplies, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels, and aircraft for a period of 10 years.
It was signed by officials of both countries hours before President Obama arrived in the country for his two-day state visit in 2014.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/11/1541371/sc-rule-edca-tomorrow
Over 12,000 new Army rifles to undergo tests
From the Philippine Star (Jan 11): Over 12,000 new Army rifles to undergo tests
More than 12,000 brand new rifles delivered to the Army would soon be subjected to ballistic tests.
The 12,657 R4 rifles that arrived from the US last December are part of the 56,843 rifles acquired from the American firm Remington, Army spokesman Col. Benjamin Hao said yesterday.
“This is a world class rifle and our troops are proud to have these things,” he said. “This weapon will help us. It is lighter but more powerful.”
Of the 56,843 R4 rifles purchased from Remington, 24,300 have been distributed to Army units and 19,866 are undergoing ballistic tests. Rifles must undergo tests before they are turned over to troops, Hao said.
The 12,657 rifles delivered last month and the 19,866 rifles undergoing tests would be distributed to soldiers within the year, he added.
Soldiers receiving M4 rifles would turn over their old M16 rifles, which will then be distributed to reservists and government militias.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/11/1541372/over-12000-new-army-rifles-undergo-tests
More than 12,000 brand new rifles delivered to the Army would soon be subjected to ballistic tests.
The 12,657 R4 rifles that arrived from the US last December are part of the 56,843 rifles acquired from the American firm Remington, Army spokesman Col. Benjamin Hao said yesterday.
“This is a world class rifle and our troops are proud to have these things,” he said. “This weapon will help us. It is lighter but more powerful.”
Of the 56,843 R4 rifles purchased from Remington, 24,300 have been distributed to Army units and 19,866 are undergoing ballistic tests. Rifles must undergo tests before they are turned over to troops, Hao said.
The 12,657 rifles delivered last month and the 19,866 rifles undergoing tests would be distributed to soldiers within the year, he added.
Soldiers receiving M4 rifles would turn over their old M16 rifles, which will then be distributed to reservists and government militias.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/11/1541372/over-12000-new-army-rifles-undergo-tests
Of General Intel Interest: US bomber in a show of force
From The Standard (Jan 10): US bomber in a show of force
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea—The US sent a heavy bomber over South Korea on Sunday in a show of force as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un insisted his country’s latest nuclear test was carried out in self-defense.
The test on Wednesday of what the North claimed was its first hydrogen bomb has sparked international alarm and raised tensions along the inter-Korean frontier, with Seoul reviving cross-border propaganda broadcasts.
Sunday’s overflight saw a B52 Stratofortress, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, briefly roar over the Osan Air Base, some 70 kilometersouth of the inter-Korean border, the US military and an eye-witness said.
It was escorted by a South Korean and an American jet.
The B52 conducted a low-level flight before heading back to Andersen Air Base in Guam, where it is stationed.
The mission was conducted “in response to recent provocative action by North Korea”, US Forces Korea said in a statement.
The aircraft are known to have taken part in joint annual US-South Korea military exercises that have enraged Pyongyang, but their flights over South Korea are rarely publicized.
The last time such a flight was made public was in 2013, after North Korea carried out its third nuclear test.
At that time, the US dispatched both a B52 and the more sophisticated B2 stealth bomber to South Korea in a show of military muscle against the North.
Wednesday’s nuclear test was Pyongyang’s fourth, though experts have questioned North Korea’s claim of the explosion having been triggered by a hydrogen bomb.
On Friday, the North’s state broadcaster also released video footage of a submarine-launched ballistic missile test, though South Korean media have suggested the footage was an edited compilation of a previous test.
Lieutenant General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, commander of the US 7th Air Force and Deputy Commander of the US Forces Korea, said on Sunday that the United States maintained an “ironclad” commitment to the defense of South Korea.
This commitment includes “extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella”, he said in a statement.
“B52 missions reinforce the US commitment to the security of our allies and partners, and demonstrate one of the many alliance capabilities available for the defense” of South Korea, he said.
“As demonstrated by today’s mission, the combined US and Republic of Korea air forces work and train together closely every day, and we are totally prepared to meet any threat to our alliance.”
The annual US-South Korea joint military exercises regularly spark angry reactions from North Korea, which brands them “nuclear war drills” against it.
Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, one of the annual joint exercises, is expected to take place in March.
South Korea hosts 28,000 US troops as the two Koreas technically remain at war because the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.
Sunday’s show of force came as Kim Jong-Un claimed the nuclear test was carried out in self-defense, to prevent a nuclear war with the United States.
In his first public remarks since the explosion, Kim said the test was “a self-defensive step for reliably defending the peace on the Korean Peninsula and the regional security from the danger of nuclear war caused by the US-led imperialists”.
“It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticize,” he added, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The North regularly accuses the US and its ally South Korea of warmongering.
An official commentary published by KCNA late Friday also cited toppled leaders Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Moamer Kadhafi of Libya as examples of what happens when countries forsake their nuclear ambitions.
The nuclear test has angered world powers, including the North’s key ally China, and the UN Security Council has said it will roll out new measures to punish the maverick state.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/news/world-news/196450/us-bomber-in-a-show-of-force.html
The test on Wednesday of what the North claimed was its first hydrogen bomb has sparked international alarm and raised tensions along the inter-Korean frontier, with Seoul reviving cross-border propaganda broadcasts.
Sunday’s overflight saw a B52 Stratofortress, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, briefly roar over the Osan Air Base, some 70 kilometersouth of the inter-Korean border, the US military and an eye-witness said.
It was escorted by a South Korean and an American jet.
The B52 conducted a low-level flight before heading back to Andersen Air Base in Guam, where it is stationed.
The mission was conducted “in response to recent provocative action by North Korea”, US Forces Korea said in a statement.
The aircraft are known to have taken part in joint annual US-South Korea military exercises that have enraged Pyongyang, but their flights over South Korea are rarely publicized.
The last time such a flight was made public was in 2013, after North Korea carried out its third nuclear test.
At that time, the US dispatched both a B52 and the more sophisticated B2 stealth bomber to South Korea in a show of military muscle against the North.
Wednesday’s nuclear test was Pyongyang’s fourth, though experts have questioned North Korea’s claim of the explosion having been triggered by a hydrogen bomb.
On Friday, the North’s state broadcaster also released video footage of a submarine-launched ballistic missile test, though South Korean media have suggested the footage was an edited compilation of a previous test.
Lieutenant General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, commander of the US 7th Air Force and Deputy Commander of the US Forces Korea, said on Sunday that the United States maintained an “ironclad” commitment to the defense of South Korea.
This commitment includes “extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella”, he said in a statement.
“B52 missions reinforce the US commitment to the security of our allies and partners, and demonstrate one of the many alliance capabilities available for the defense” of South Korea, he said.
“As demonstrated by today’s mission, the combined US and Republic of Korea air forces work and train together closely every day, and we are totally prepared to meet any threat to our alliance.”
The annual US-South Korea joint military exercises regularly spark angry reactions from North Korea, which brands them “nuclear war drills” against it.
Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, one of the annual joint exercises, is expected to take place in March.
South Korea hosts 28,000 US troops as the two Koreas technically remain at war because the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.
Sunday’s show of force came as Kim Jong-Un claimed the nuclear test was carried out in self-defense, to prevent a nuclear war with the United States.
In his first public remarks since the explosion, Kim said the test was “a self-defensive step for reliably defending the peace on the Korean Peninsula and the regional security from the danger of nuclear war caused by the US-led imperialists”.
“It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticize,” he added, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The North regularly accuses the US and its ally South Korea of warmongering.
An official commentary published by KCNA late Friday also cited toppled leaders Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Moamer Kadhafi of Libya as examples of what happens when countries forsake their nuclear ambitions.
The nuclear test has angered world powers, including the North’s key ally China, and the UN Security Council has said it will roll out new measures to punish the maverick state.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/news/world-news/196450/us-bomber-in-a-show-of-force.html
DWDD: DEFENSE ISSUES // Phl, US “2 on 2“Meeting
From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Jan 8): DEFENSE ISSUES // Phl, US “2 on 2“Meeting
Defense Sec Voltaire Gazmin
Foreign Affairs Sec Albert Del Rosario
CAMP GEN EMILIO AGUINALDO, Quezon City (DWDD) – Philippine and United States officials will be meeting next week to discuss important defense issues/topics.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Sec. Albert del Rosario will be flying to Washington in the weekend to meet with their counterparts next Tuesday and discuss defense cooperation.
Although Gazmin made it clear that the meet is to discuss preparing defenses for the Philippines, and it’s not directed at any country in particular, specially, the status of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between Manila and Washington, which is still awaiting a final decision by the Supreme Court (SC).
In regards China’s test landing landing in Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef, Gazmin described it as “aggressive”.
It can be recalled that tensions run high last week when China confirmed that a test flight by a civilian plane landed on a newly-built airfield on Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef, which the Chinese call Yongshu Jiao.
The move shows that China continues construction activities after turning the reefs into artificial islands for possibly military purposes amid calls by the international community to halt such aggression in the disputed territories.
China’s increasing military presence in the WPS is being feared by many as the next step towards declaring a Beijing-controlled air defense zone. AES / MCAG
http://dwdd.com.ph/2015/defense-issues-phl-us-2-on-2meeting/
CAMP GEN EMILIO AGUINALDO, Quezon City (DWDD) – Philippine and United States officials will be meeting next week to discuss important defense issues/topics.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Sec. Albert del Rosario will be flying to Washington in the weekend to meet with their counterparts next Tuesday and discuss defense cooperation.
Although Gazmin made it clear that the meet is to discuss preparing defenses for the Philippines, and it’s not directed at any country in particular, specially, the status of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between Manila and Washington, which is still awaiting a final decision by the Supreme Court (SC).
In regards China’s test landing landing in Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef, Gazmin described it as “aggressive”.
It can be recalled that tensions run high last week when China confirmed that a test flight by a civilian plane landed on a newly-built airfield on Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef, which the Chinese call Yongshu Jiao.
The move shows that China continues construction activities after turning the reefs into artificial islands for possibly military purposes amid calls by the international community to halt such aggression in the disputed territories.
China’s increasing military presence in the WPS is being feared by many as the next step towards declaring a Beijing-controlled air defense zone. AES / MCAG
http://dwdd.com.ph/2015/defense-issues-phl-us-2-on-2meeting/
DWDD: PEACEFUL ELECTION // Kick-Off Ceremony for SAFE 2016
From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Jan 10): PEACEFUL ELECTION // Kick-Off Ceremony for SAFE 2016
DWDD— The Commission on Election (COMELEC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), in collaboration with relevant stakeholders conducts the Kick-Off ceremony for Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) 2016 today, January 10, 2016.
The activity aims to promote the significance of having a Secure, Accurate and Fair Elections on May 9, 2016.
Highlight of the event is a peace unity walk at six in the morning, starting from Quirino Grandstand, Luneta Park, Manila enroute through Bonifacio Drive and will culminate in front of COMELEC office at Palacio del Gobernador.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines participated on this momentous event together with the policemen in the peace walk.
Meanwhile, AFP Chief of Staff General Hernando Iriberri issued an instructions last month when he made rounds of military camps. “Those who will be involved in partisan politics will have to face the consequences of their actions. We don’t want any soldier, airman, sailor or marine to be involved in any partisan politics, ” Iriberri said.
http://dwdd.com.ph/2015/47160-2/
DWDD— The Commission on Election (COMELEC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), in collaboration with relevant stakeholders conducts the Kick-Off ceremony for Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) 2016 today, January 10, 2016.
The activity aims to promote the significance of having a Secure, Accurate and Fair Elections on May 9, 2016.
Highlight of the event is a peace unity walk at six in the morning, starting from Quirino Grandstand, Luneta Park, Manila enroute through Bonifacio Drive and will culminate in front of COMELEC office at Palacio del Gobernador.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines participated on this momentous event together with the policemen in the peace walk.
Meanwhile, AFP Chief of Staff General Hernando Iriberri issued an instructions last month when he made rounds of military camps. “Those who will be involved in partisan politics will have to face the consequences of their actions. We don’t want any soldier, airman, sailor or marine to be involved in any partisan politics, ” Iriberri said.
http://dwdd.com.ph/2015/47160-2/
Reds threatens to abduct more troopers this year
From the Mindanao Gold Star Daily (Jan 6): Reds threatens to abduct more troopers this year
FILE PHOTO BY CONG B. CORRALES
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) has threatened to continue its abduction of more military men in exchange for the release of its members from military custody this was said by NDF-Mindanao spokesperson Ka Oris during the release of Sgt. Adriano Delapena Bingil last year, December 31.
Ka Oris cited there are already 600 political prisoners in the entire country including 21 NDF consultants for peace who were arrested by the military without any further investigation.
He added the CPP, NPA and the NDFP is serious in pursuing peace negotiations with the government to achieve long lasting peace in Mindanao.
Ka Oris said they will be targeting high ranking military personnel and punish them accordingly to their crimes against the New People’s Army, but some of these prisoners of war will be released according to NDFP decisions that they are serious in pursuing peace process in Mindanao.
Meanwhile, The Sub Regional Command of Northern Mindanao Regional Committee Ka Joker said the abduction of Bingil was part of the NPA’s plan to prove that they are becoming stronger in this part of the country.
Bingil was abducted by the NPA at Barangay Policarpio, San Luis, Agusan del Sur last year in September 19, in an NPA checkpoint outside of the said area.
Joe Patrick Martinez, 4th Infantry Division spokesperson said the abduction of Sgt. Bingil was part of the NPA’s plan to hinder the delivery of military services and programs to indigenes because the rebels has interest in the said area to conduct recruitment.
Martinez said “Tataw ni nga walay kaayohan nga gusto ang NPA sa maong barangay ug ang gusto lamang nila magpabilin ang kalisud arun dali ra makarekrut ug bag-ong miembro sa NPA.”
Col. Alexander L. Maca-rio Commander of the 401st Infantry Brigade explained that once developments and productivity in the said area are realize, the NPA will no longer be relevant and as a sign of desperation they turned to kidnapping of military personnel to block progress from reaching the people.
“For the NPA, once developments have set-in in that area or in every community, the issues that they are catalyzing upon will no longer be relevant. That is why they need to do something, for example kidnapping our soldier to block or impede these developments from reaching our people,” Macario said.
http://mindanaogoldstardaily.com/reds-threatens-to-abduct-more-troopers-this-year/
FILE PHOTO BY CONG B. CORRALES
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) has threatened to continue its abduction of more military men in exchange for the release of its members from military custody this was said by NDF-Mindanao spokesperson Ka Oris during the release of Sgt. Adriano Delapena Bingil last year, December 31.
Ka Oris cited there are already 600 political prisoners in the entire country including 21 NDF consultants for peace who were arrested by the military without any further investigation.
He added the CPP, NPA and the NDFP is serious in pursuing peace negotiations with the government to achieve long lasting peace in Mindanao.
Ka Oris said they will be targeting high ranking military personnel and punish them accordingly to their crimes against the New People’s Army, but some of these prisoners of war will be released according to NDFP decisions that they are serious in pursuing peace process in Mindanao.
Meanwhile, The Sub Regional Command of Northern Mindanao Regional Committee Ka Joker said the abduction of Bingil was part of the NPA’s plan to prove that they are becoming stronger in this part of the country.
Bingil was abducted by the NPA at Barangay Policarpio, San Luis, Agusan del Sur last year in September 19, in an NPA checkpoint outside of the said area.
Joe Patrick Martinez, 4th Infantry Division spokesperson said the abduction of Sgt. Bingil was part of the NPA’s plan to hinder the delivery of military services and programs to indigenes because the rebels has interest in the said area to conduct recruitment.
Martinez said “Tataw ni nga walay kaayohan nga gusto ang NPA sa maong barangay ug ang gusto lamang nila magpabilin ang kalisud arun dali ra makarekrut ug bag-ong miembro sa NPA.”
Col. Alexander L. Maca-rio Commander of the 401st Infantry Brigade explained that once developments and productivity in the said area are realize, the NPA will no longer be relevant and as a sign of desperation they turned to kidnapping of military personnel to block progress from reaching the people.
“For the NPA, once developments have set-in in that area or in every community, the issues that they are catalyzing upon will no longer be relevant. That is why they need to do something, for example kidnapping our soldier to block or impede these developments from reaching our people,” Macario said.
http://mindanaogoldstardaily.com/reds-threatens-to-abduct-more-troopers-this-year/
Bets receive demand letters from NPA
From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 11): Bets receive demand letters from NPA
LUCENA CITY—Communist rebels have started sending letters to politicians reminding them to pay ‘’permit to campaign” (PTC) fees in guerilla-controlled areas.
At least three candidates for local posts confirmed having received demands for PTC fees from supposed New People’s Army (NPA) units in Quezon province.
The three candidates, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity for their safety, said that while they were inclined to ignore the rebels’ demand, they would still seek a compromise or pay less than demanded from them.
“I received my invitation letter last month,” a reelectionist mayor in the Bondoc peninsula belonging to the province’s third district, told the Inquirer on Sunday.
He said the letter reminding him to pay the PTC fee was delivered by a barangay official but specified no amount.
In past elections, the rebels reportedly demanded not only cash but rice, food stuff, medicine, communication equipment and even cell phone load.
Brig. Gen. Erick Parayno, commander of the Philippine Army’s 201st Infantry Brigade in Quezon, called on candidates not to give in to the rebels’ demands.
“The candidates should not be frightened. The rebels are now a weak force. If they give in, the extortion will not stop,” Parayno said.
Another mayoralty candidate in the Lamon Bay area in Quezon’s fourth district, who also received demands for payment through his mobile phone, said the offer of a security escort by the police and military was double-edged.
‘’There’s a semblance of protection but at the same time a candidate will lose votes in NPA-controlled areas,” the candidate said.
‘’Worse, the rebels could resort to liquidation to instill fear,” he said.
The two other candidates interviewed by the Inquirer rejected the security escorts offered by the police and military.
‘’It would only complicate matters and create more trouble,” one candidate said.
The mayoral bet from Lamon Bay said he received word from some Quezon mayors that they had also received similar notices from the rebels.
He said most of the candidates, like himself, were inclined to negotiate with the rebels.
Parayno said there were 27 armed rebels operating in the central Quezon, Lamon Bay and Bondoc peninsula areas, mostly on the outskirts of Gumaca, Lopez, Macalelon and Buenavista towns.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/754351/bets-receive-demand-letters-from-npa
LUCENA CITY—Communist rebels have started sending letters to politicians reminding them to pay ‘’permit to campaign” (PTC) fees in guerilla-controlled areas.
At least three candidates for local posts confirmed having received demands for PTC fees from supposed New People’s Army (NPA) units in Quezon province.
The three candidates, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity for their safety, said that while they were inclined to ignore the rebels’ demand, they would still seek a compromise or pay less than demanded from them.
“I received my invitation letter last month,” a reelectionist mayor in the Bondoc peninsula belonging to the province’s third district, told the Inquirer on Sunday.
He said the letter reminding him to pay the PTC fee was delivered by a barangay official but specified no amount.
In past elections, the rebels reportedly demanded not only cash but rice, food stuff, medicine, communication equipment and even cell phone load.
Brig. Gen. Erick Parayno, commander of the Philippine Army’s 201st Infantry Brigade in Quezon, called on candidates not to give in to the rebels’ demands.
“The candidates should not be frightened. The rebels are now a weak force. If they give in, the extortion will not stop,” Parayno said.
Another mayoralty candidate in the Lamon Bay area in Quezon’s fourth district, who also received demands for payment through his mobile phone, said the offer of a security escort by the police and military was double-edged.
‘’There’s a semblance of protection but at the same time a candidate will lose votes in NPA-controlled areas,” the candidate said.
‘’Worse, the rebels could resort to liquidation to instill fear,” he said.
The two other candidates interviewed by the Inquirer rejected the security escorts offered by the police and military.
‘’It would only complicate matters and create more trouble,” one candidate said.
The mayoral bet from Lamon Bay said he received word from some Quezon mayors that they had also received similar notices from the rebels.
He said most of the candidates, like himself, were inclined to negotiate with the rebels.
Parayno said there were 27 armed rebels operating in the central Quezon, Lamon Bay and Bondoc peninsula areas, mostly on the outskirts of Gumaca, Lopez, Macalelon and Buenavista towns.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/754351/bets-receive-demand-letters-from-npa
Maguindanao officials ask residents not to bear arms
From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 10): Maguindanao officials ask residents not to bear arms
Cotabato City – The provincial peace and order council (PPOC) of Maguindanao was recently convened to map out measures that would strengthen efforts by the civilian sector, as well as the military and police, to stave off continued threats from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Cotabato City – The provincial peace and order council (PPOC) of Maguindanao was recently convened to map out measures that would strengthen efforts by the civilian sector, as well as the military and police, to stave off continued threats from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, PPOC chairman, convened the special meeting last week in Buluan town following reports that some civilian residents were already planning to take up arms to defend themselves any BIFF attack, it was learned yesterday.
Members of the PPOC secretariat said the governor, alongside local police and military leaders, received suggestions at the meeting for the continuous conduct of interfaith-building dialogues in strategic areas of Maguindanao where civilian residents have reportedly signified their intention to resist any BIFF attack.
SMILES HIDE THEIR FEAR – Life goes on for this Visayan-speaking peasant family in Buluan, Maguindanao as they wave to passing journalists from their carabao-drawn cart. The photo was taken after the provincial peace and order council (PPOC) met last January 5 to tackle the violent attacks of the BIFF on the civilians of Maguindanao. (Ali G. Macabalang)
Mangudadatu and Pangilinan personally visited barangay Kauran in Ampatuan town on December 29, and distributed relief assistance to local residents, majority of whom were Christians, who bore the brunt of recent BIFF threats. The governor also handed cash assistance to families of six Visayan peasants killed in a BIFF attack in the village on December 24.
Both officials had a dialogue with the village residents to dissuade them from taking up arms.
Some local reporters had earlier reported that a number of Christian residents in the village and other BIFF-threatened communities in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato had shown them samples of firearms they would use to fight the bandit group.
http://www.mb.com.ph/maguindanao-officials-ask-residents-not-to-bear-arms/
Members of the PPOC secretariat said the governor, alongside local police and military leaders, received suggestions at the meeting for the continuous conduct of interfaith-building dialogues in strategic areas of Maguindanao where civilian residents have reportedly signified their intention to resist any BIFF attack.
SMILES HIDE THEIR FEAR – Life goes on for this Visayan-speaking peasant family in Buluan, Maguindanao as they wave to passing journalists from their carabao-drawn cart. The photo was taken after the provincial peace and order council (PPOC) met last January 5 to tackle the violent attacks of the BIFF on the civilians of Maguindanao. (Ali G. Macabalang)
Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Maguindanao-based Army’s Sixth Infantry Division (6ID), had earlier told reporters that military and police authorities would not allow the arming of civilians which was the case when the cultist movement, Ilaga, did so during the Martial Law years that “only led to nothing but more trouble.”
Both officials had a dialogue with the village residents to dissuade them from taking up arms.
Some local reporters had earlier reported that a number of Christian residents in the village and other BIFF-threatened communities in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato had shown them samples of firearms they would use to fight the bandit group.
http://www.mb.com.ph/maguindanao-officials-ask-residents-not-to-bear-arms/
Misuari spotted in Sulu
From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 11): Misuari spotted in Sulu
http://www.mb.com.ph/misuari-spotted-in-sulu/
Cotabato: Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) Chairperson Nur Misuari, who has been in hiding after
being implicated in the bloody Zamboanga siege in 2013, reportedly resurfaced
in Sulu last Friday to preside over a meeting of MNLF followers and elements of
the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), eluding government security forces which have been
trying to track him down.
“A large group of
mostly heavily armed MNLF and Abu Sayyaf rebels turned up for the assembly
called for by the 76-year-old Misuari on Friday in Indanan town, Sulu,” said
Zamboanga City-based journalist Al Jacinto yesterday.
The Friday assembly was reportedly called
by Misuari so that he could discuss with loyal followers and sympathizers his
desire to attend an upcoming Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva
According to
Jacinto, it was a “missed opportunity to arrest” the elusive Misuari, who has
been charged for deadly assaults staged by the MNLF in Zamboanga in 2001 and
2013.
Hundreds of
casualties were reported in the attacks with the 2013 siege leaving 190 people
killed, more than 200 others wounded and over 19,000 individuals displaced. A
considerable number of the displaced people have remained in evacuation camps
since then, raising local and foreign humanitarian bodies’ concerns for their
welfare in substandard conditions.
According to
reports from UN agencies, several houses were destroyed by fire, and schools,
airports and businesses were all shut down as a result of the siege that lasted
for 20 days.
Quoting local
sources, Jacinto said the Friday assembly “prompted the military to declare a
red alert status in Sulu for fear the MNLF and Abu Sayyaf groups might launch
fresh attacks against government targets.”
Suspected to have
been long hiding in Sulu, Misuari “managed to pass through military checkpoints
and gathered the rebel forces for the plenum undetected.”
In Zamboanga
City, Police Office Director Sr. Supt. Angelito Casimiro said the MNLF members,
who proceeded to the Sulu meeting, came from the neighboring provinces of
Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur and Sarangani province and took a ferry
boat en-route to Sulu to attend the Misuari-hosted meeting.
However, Casimiro
noted that the MNLF members were “unarmed and not wearing (their MNLF) uniform,
and, thus, cannot be charged nor restrict them to travel (because that would
violate their) civil liberties.”
It was learned
that the MNLF visitors had requested for a safe conduct pass from the AFP and
PNP to allow them pass by and board a ferry for Jolo, Sulu starting Thursday
night.
Casimiro said he
ordered the Vitali Police Station to deploy sufficient police force, together
with military units, at the border in Licomo to strictly account for and ensure
that the MNLF members were unarmed and will not cause trouble in the city.
Zamboanga police had
also intercepted about 40 MNLF members from Sarangani
Province at the village of Talon-Talon
Task Group
Zamboanga has deployed fully-armed troops with armored personnel carriers at
the border early Thursday morning to ensure military presence.
The same troops
escorted the MNLF members to the wharf until they were able to board a vessel
bound for Jolo in Sulu.
Zamboanga City
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco on Saturday urged police and military authorities
“to apply the full force of the law to members of the MNLF who will attempt to
disrupt the peace and tranquility in the city.”
Climaco said she
directed authorities in this city to “stay extra vigilant against any and all
violations that may be committed by the travelling members of the MNLF who were
en-route to Sulu for a supposed assembly.”
“Strictly enforce
the law on any erring individual to protect Zamboanga City
The local chief
executive also brought to the attention of Presidential Adviser on the Peace
Process Teresita Deles through a letter, the presence in Zamboanga of several
persons allegedly on their way to Sulu to attend an assembly of more or less
5,000 members of the MNLF.
“This matter was
not coordinated with the City Government of Zamboanga nor with the local
police”, the mayor told Deles in her letter as she expressed apprehensions over
the peace and tranquility of the city given the devastating MNLF siege in
September 2013.
Climaco likewise
asked Deles if the assembly of the MNLF members in Sulu was coordinated with
the OPAPP, saying: “We seek your immediate guidance as we may be compelled to
disperse any assembly of persons that will converge in and threaten peace and
order in the city.”
Misuari, now in
his mid 70s, signed the MNLF’s Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the government
in September, 1996, a few days before then President Fidel Ramos convinced him
to run for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the
1997 elections, which he won easily with massive state party backing.
Under the FPA,
the Philippine government was to provide a mini-Marshal Plan for economic
development in ARMM areas, including livelihood and housing assistance to
thousands of former rebels to improve their living conditions.
Accusing the
government of not fully implementing the intent and spirit of the 1996 FPAI,
Misuari and his loyal forces and former MNLF rebels integrated into the Philippine
Army attacked a key military base in Jolo town.
Misuari then
escaped by boat to Malaysia ,
where he was eventually arrested and deported to the Philippines
But the so-called
MNLF Council of 15, a body which gained observer status at the 57-nation
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), ousted Misuari as chairman.
MNLF foreign
affairs Chief Parouk Hussin, a Council of 15 key official, was elected ARMM
governor in 2001 with full backing from the Arroyo administration.
Maguindanao-based Muslim in Sema, another Council of 15 co-founder, assumed
chairmanship of the MNLF from Misuari.
In 2014, Abul
Khayr Alonto, one of MNLF founders who helped install Misuari as founding
chieftain, was elected new MNLF chair by surviving members of the front’s “Top
90” original cadres.
Alonto and Sema
have manifested official support to the government’s current peace process with
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which was founded in by now deceased
Ustaz Salamat Hasim after bolting from the MNLF in 1980s. But Misuari remains
opposed to the government-MILF peace dealings.
http://www.mb.com.ph/misuari-spotted-in-sulu/
Terror groups form Islamic State powerhouse in the Philippines: video
From the Sydney Moring Herald (Jan 11): Terror groups form Islamic State powerhouse in the Philippines: video
Videos posted online claim to show Philippines-based Islamic State militants training. Photo: YouTube
The video purports to show militants carrying Islamic flags and the heavily armed commanders of the groups who had declared their allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A video reportedly showing an Islamic State training camp in the Philippines. Photo: YouTube
The groups have in the past separately claimed support for the Islamic State, but the video suggests they may have agreed to consolidate their forces, creating an even more potent threat from the lawless island region bordering Malaysia.
The groups, including the brutal Abu Sayyaf, have for years justified using violence for extreme Islamic causes, but analysts say they have presented an ideological façade to cover criminal acts, including lucrative kidnappings-for-ransom.
Ten members of one of the groups called Ansar al-Khilafah in the Philippines were killed by Philippine soldiers and police in an operation on Mindanao island on November 26.
The video posted on January 4 shows Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon marching with other extremist leaders who operate from bases on the islands of Sulu and Basilan.
The video has since being removed.
The United States has offered US$5 million reward for the capture of Hapilon, who has led many attacks, beheadings and kidnappings across the region over the last decade.
He is believed to have been wounded during a fire-fight with Philippine soldiers in October.
Hapilon first declared allegiance to Islamic State in a video posted on YouTube in July 2014.
Southern Philippine groups have posted several propaganda videos since November, including one threatening an imminent attack on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting of world leaders in Manila, which did not eventuate.
One video released in December purported to show fighters at secret training camp who allege to be the "soldiers of the Caliphate in the Philippines."
Photographs published by The Long War Journal showed jihadists undergoing weapons training with what appear to be US-made assault rifles, and other training.
The existence of a South-East Asian training camp run for the Islamic State has not been verified.
Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert from the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore told the Rappler online news site that a merger of fighting formations in the southern Philippines would present an unprecedented challenge to the government in Manila.
"With the proclamation of an Islamic State branch in the southern Philippines, the IS influence is likely to grow, affecting both the southern Philippines and eastern Malaysia," Dr Gunaratna said.
"Islamic State is likely to create a safe haven in Basilan and mount operations from the Sulu archipelago into both the Philippines and Malaysia."
http://www.smh.com.au/world/terror-groups-form-islamic-state-powerhouse-in-the-philippines-video-20160110-gm2zwg.html
Videos posted online claim to show Philippines-based Islamic State militants training. Photo: YouTube
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The video purports to show militants carrying Islamic flags and the heavily armed commanders of the groups who had declared their allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A video reportedly showing an Islamic State training camp in the Philippines. Photo: YouTube
The groups have in the past separately claimed support for the Islamic State, but the video suggests they may have agreed to consolidate their forces, creating an even more potent threat from the lawless island region bordering Malaysia.
The groups, including the brutal Abu Sayyaf, have for years justified using violence for extreme Islamic causes, but analysts say they have presented an ideological façade to cover criminal acts, including lucrative kidnappings-for-ransom.
Ten members of one of the groups called Ansar al-Khilafah in the Philippines were killed by Philippine soldiers and police in an operation on Mindanao island on November 26.
The video posted on January 4 shows Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon marching with other extremist leaders who operate from bases on the islands of Sulu and Basilan.
The video has since being removed.
The United States has offered US$5 million reward for the capture of Hapilon, who has led many attacks, beheadings and kidnappings across the region over the last decade.
He is believed to have been wounded during a fire-fight with Philippine soldiers in October.
Hapilon first declared allegiance to Islamic State in a video posted on YouTube in July 2014.
Southern Philippine groups have posted several propaganda videos since November, including one threatening an imminent attack on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting of world leaders in Manila, which did not eventuate.
One video released in December purported to show fighters at secret training camp who allege to be the "soldiers of the Caliphate in the Philippines."
Photographs published by The Long War Journal showed jihadists undergoing weapons training with what appear to be US-made assault rifles, and other training.
The existence of a South-East Asian training camp run for the Islamic State has not been verified.
Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert from the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore told the Rappler online news site that a merger of fighting formations in the southern Philippines would present an unprecedented challenge to the government in Manila.
"With the proclamation of an Islamic State branch in the southern Philippines, the IS influence is likely to grow, affecting both the southern Philippines and eastern Malaysia," Dr Gunaratna said.
"Islamic State is likely to create a safe haven in Basilan and mount operations from the Sulu archipelago into both the Philippines and Malaysia."
http://www.smh.com.au/world/terror-groups-form-islamic-state-powerhouse-in-the-philippines-video-20160110-gm2zwg.html
Military expects to end NPA insurgency in 2016
From the Business Mirror (Jan 10): Military expects to end NPA insurgency in 2016
THE military is confident that it could meet its target of ending the communist insurgency problem this year, before it fully shifts into a territorial defense posture.
“Our campaign is continuously showing success, paving the way for the clearing of additional barangays from the New People’s Army [NPA],” said the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Hernando Delfin Carmelo Iriberri, after the command conference that was attended by all military commanders on Friday.
Irriberi said the government has already cleared a total of 64 provinces from the influence of the communist guerrillas and is working to clear the remaining 12 provinces, most of them in the Davao and Caraga regions.
Iriberri said the 12 provinces are already “peaceful and ready for peaceful development.”
The Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan, the military’s countercommunist-insurgency campaign that also included all threat groups, was conceived during the term of President Aquino and has an end goal of defeating all rebels before his term ends in June this year.
There is an urgency for the government to end the insurgency problem, so that it could fully focus its attention to territorial defense, whose center is fending off China’s aggressiveness in the West Philippine Sea.
Iriberri said the military cleared at least 13 guerrilla fronts last year and this translates to 292 barangays formerly influenced or controlled by the NPA.
For the rebels, each guerrilla front covers one or, in some cases, two provinces, and its armed members are equivalent to a company-sized or bigger formation in the military.
Iriberri said that from a membership of 4, 443 at the end of 2014, the military has managed to reduce the number of rebels to 3, 296 as of the end of last year. He did not explain how the Armed Forces arrived at those exact figures.
Iriberri said the military and police forces also arrested or neutralized at least 31 top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front.
“There was no major tactical offensive that the rebels carried out last year,” Iriberri said in underscoring the accomplishment of the military.
As to the other threat groups like the Abu Sayyaf, he said the military has also reduced its membership, although he could not give figures.
The Abu Sayyaf has resurrected its kidnapping activities late last year by taking in a number of foreigners, including the two Canadians and a Norwegian from a resort in Davao del Norte, whom it took to Sulu for ransom negotiations.
As to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, it has an existing preliminary peace agreement with the government.
Bulatlat: Ka Eddik’
From the pro-CPP online propaganda publication Bulatlat (Jan 9): ‘Ka Eddik’
Article printed from Bulatlat: http://bulatlat.com/main
URL to article: http://bulatlat.com/main/2016/01/09/ka-eddik/
URLs in this post:
Eduardo Serrano spent the best years of his life serving the peasantry. A graduate of University of the Philippines – Los Baños, he could have chosen a life of luxury by working in multinational corporations engaged in Agro-Industry, but he did not. He chose to serve the poorest sectors in Philippine society.
No matter what the military and the government say about him; no matter if one believes or not in the principles he has consistently fought for. One thing is clear: he had lived an honorable, principled and selfless life. He does not deserve to die while in detention.
To honor the man and his principles and to rage against the injustices that he has been a victim of, Bulatlat.com is printing the articles we published about Eduardo Serrano.
Missing alleged red Leader surfaces in Mindoro police jail [1]
[2]
“Sandali lang, parang naiiyak ako” (Just a second, I feel like crying). Those were the first words human rights workers heard from Eduardo Serrano, alleged NPA leader from the Southern Tagalog region, nine days after he was held incommunicado by his military captors. After days of searching for him at various jails in Manila and Southern Tagalog, they finally tracked him at the Calapan City Jail in the island of Mindoro.
The political prisoner who never stopped learning [3]
He was as upbeat as a teenager when his childhood friend, George, showed up at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame. Wearing black shorts, leather sandals and his customary orange shirt with the words “Free All Political Prisoners,” Eduardo Serrano jumped up and down and hugged his friend whom he had not seen since 1995.
After a few minutes of the usual kumustahan (greetings), Serrano started to update his friend on what had led him behind bars, from his arrest on May 2, 2004 at the Batangas pier after coming from a consultation with Fidel Agcaoili, member of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Peace Negotiating Panel and co-chairperson of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights & International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) who was visiting the country then. Serrano is a consultant of the NDFP from the province of Mindoro Oriental, an island south of Manila.
NDFP consultant has spent a decade in prison [4]
For ten years, Eduardo Serrano has been languishing in jail for crimes he did not commit.
Serrano, a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Southern Tagalog, was arrested on May 2, 2004 at the Batangas pier.
Serrano has been slapped with five charges: three charges of multiple murder, one kidnapping and one attempted homicide. Of the five, only one has been dismissed and the four others are still in court. He spent three years at the Calapan City Jail in Mindoro Oriental before he was transferred to the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
“The military presented several witnesses; all of them claimed that I am a high-ranking leader of the communist movement. But the charges filed against me are common crimes, not rebellion,” Serrano said.
[5]
NDFP consultant denies claims by ‘pro’ witness
A peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) denied allegations that he is a ranking official of the underground movement – an allegation made four years ago by a “professional military witness.”
“That is a lie,” peace consultant Eduardo Serrano said during his cross-examination at the hearing of the multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against him at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100 last June 25.
Serrano is the longest detained NDFP consultant who has been languishing in jail since 2004.
QC court orders release of NDF peace consultant imprisoned for 11 years [6]
After 11 years in detention, a Quezon City court ordered the immediate release of Eduardo Serrano, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), calling his incarceration “an outright mockery” of the Constitution.
In a court order issued today, Oct. 22, Judge Marilou Runes-Tamang of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98, ruled that political prisoner Serrano is not the accused Rogelio Villanueva, whom the military claims is a ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
QC court junks another case vs longest-detained NDFP consultant [7]
The country’s longest detained political prisoner is calling on all fair-minded judges and rights advocates to continue working and fighting for the respect of human rights and freedom for many political prisoners following the dismissal of another trumped-up case against him.
On Nov. 26, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100 acquitted National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant Eduardo Serrano of multiple murder and frustrated murder charges for the prosecution’s failure to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. This is the second case against him that was dismissed.
In a statement sent to Bulatlat.com, Serrano said he is very much relieved of the developments.
“In my case, I have already suffered 11 years of unjust and cruel detention as a political prisoner, and still continue to suffer such, given the efforts of the reactionary state forces to suppress progressive advocates of and fighters for the cause of the poor and oppressed and the mass of the people in our country,” Serrano said.
[8]
Ailing NDFP peace consultant passes away [9]
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Eduardo Serrano passed away in a hospital this morning, as calls for his release on humanitarian grounds remain unheeded by government. He was 62.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Geneve Rivera-Reyes of the Health Alliance for Democracy, said Serrano passed away at 8:10 a.m.
Since Dec. 16, Serrano had been confined at Philippine Heart Center where he was rushed after suffering a heart attack.
‘Aquino, not cardiac arrest killed ailing NDFP consultant’ [10]
For activists and many progressive, it is not cardiac arrest that killed National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Eduardo Serrano, but the Aquino administration that refused to release him.
“It is not heart attack that killed Ka Eddik, but the ruling few, who, in their despair and insanity, denied him his freedom, believing that this would put an end to the struggle of the people,” Doris Cuario of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog said.
Serrano, or Eddik to his family and friends, was an agriculture graduate of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños [11]. He received a post-graduate study on animal science in Copenhagen from 1978 to 1979. When he returned to the country, he helped found the Southern Tagalog-based peasant group Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK), and offered consultancy on farming and irrigation for people’s organizations and private individuals.
Under Aquino, political dissent is a crime [12]
President Benigno Aquino III, the son of so-called icons of democracy, criminalizes the exercise of civil and political rights.
Since Aquino assumed the presidency, 304 activists were arrested and detained, bringing the number of political prisoners to 561.
According to human rights group Karapatan, 85 percent of political prisoners were slapped with criminal charges, a clear violation of the Hernandez political doctrine, a Supreme Court jurisprudence that prohibits the criminalization of political dissent.
No matter what the military and the government say about him; no matter if one believes or not in the principles he has consistently fought for. One thing is clear: he had lived an honorable, principled and selfless life. He does not deserve to die while in detention.
To honor the man and his principles and to rage against the injustices that he has been a victim of, Bulatlat.com is printing the articles we published about Eduardo Serrano.
Missing alleged red Leader surfaces in Mindoro police jail [1]
[2]“Sandali lang, parang naiiyak ako” (Just a second, I feel like crying). Those were the first words human rights workers heard from Eduardo Serrano, alleged NPA leader from the Southern Tagalog region, nine days after he was held incommunicado by his military captors. After days of searching for him at various jails in Manila and Southern Tagalog, they finally tracked him at the Calapan City Jail in the island of Mindoro.
The political prisoner who never stopped learning [3]
He was as upbeat as a teenager when his childhood friend, George, showed up at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame. Wearing black shorts, leather sandals and his customary orange shirt with the words “Free All Political Prisoners,” Eduardo Serrano jumped up and down and hugged his friend whom he had not seen since 1995.
After a few minutes of the usual kumustahan (greetings), Serrano started to update his friend on what had led him behind bars, from his arrest on May 2, 2004 at the Batangas pier after coming from a consultation with Fidel Agcaoili, member of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Peace Negotiating Panel and co-chairperson of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights & International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) who was visiting the country then. Serrano is a consultant of the NDFP from the province of Mindoro Oriental, an island south of Manila.
NDFP consultant has spent a decade in prison [4]
For ten years, Eduardo Serrano has been languishing in jail for crimes he did not commit.
Serrano, a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Southern Tagalog, was arrested on May 2, 2004 at the Batangas pier.
Serrano has been slapped with five charges: three charges of multiple murder, one kidnapping and one attempted homicide. Of the five, only one has been dismissed and the four others are still in court. He spent three years at the Calapan City Jail in Mindoro Oriental before he was transferred to the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
“The military presented several witnesses; all of them claimed that I am a high-ranking leader of the communist movement. But the charges filed against me are common crimes, not rebellion,” Serrano said.
[5]NDFP consultant denies claims by ‘pro’ witness
A peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) denied allegations that he is a ranking official of the underground movement – an allegation made four years ago by a “professional military witness.”
“That is a lie,” peace consultant Eduardo Serrano said during his cross-examination at the hearing of the multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against him at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100 last June 25.
Serrano is the longest detained NDFP consultant who has been languishing in jail since 2004.
QC court orders release of NDF peace consultant imprisoned for 11 years [6]
After 11 years in detention, a Quezon City court ordered the immediate release of Eduardo Serrano, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), calling his incarceration “an outright mockery” of the Constitution.
In a court order issued today, Oct. 22, Judge Marilou Runes-Tamang of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98, ruled that political prisoner Serrano is not the accused Rogelio Villanueva, whom the military claims is a ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
QC court junks another case vs longest-detained NDFP consultant [7]
The country’s longest detained political prisoner is calling on all fair-minded judges and rights advocates to continue working and fighting for the respect of human rights and freedom for many political prisoners following the dismissal of another trumped-up case against him.
On Nov. 26, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100 acquitted National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant Eduardo Serrano of multiple murder and frustrated murder charges for the prosecution’s failure to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. This is the second case against him that was dismissed.
In a statement sent to Bulatlat.com, Serrano said he is very much relieved of the developments.
“In my case, I have already suffered 11 years of unjust and cruel detention as a political prisoner, and still continue to suffer such, given the efforts of the reactionary state forces to suppress progressive advocates of and fighters for the cause of the poor and oppressed and the mass of the people in our country,” Serrano said.
[8]Ailing NDFP peace consultant passes away [9]
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Eduardo Serrano passed away in a hospital this morning, as calls for his release on humanitarian grounds remain unheeded by government. He was 62.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Geneve Rivera-Reyes of the Health Alliance for Democracy, said Serrano passed away at 8:10 a.m.
Since Dec. 16, Serrano had been confined at Philippine Heart Center where he was rushed after suffering a heart attack.
‘Aquino, not cardiac arrest killed ailing NDFP consultant’ [10]
For activists and many progressive, it is not cardiac arrest that killed National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Eduardo Serrano, but the Aquino administration that refused to release him.
“It is not heart attack that killed Ka Eddik, but the ruling few, who, in their despair and insanity, denied him his freedom, believing that this would put an end to the struggle of the people,” Doris Cuario of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog said.
Serrano, or Eddik to his family and friends, was an agriculture graduate of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños [11]. He received a post-graduate study on animal science in Copenhagen from 1978 to 1979. When he returned to the country, he helped found the Southern Tagalog-based peasant group Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK), and offered consultancy on farming and irrigation for people’s organizations and private individuals.
Under Aquino, political dissent is a crime [12]
President Benigno Aquino III, the son of so-called icons of democracy, criminalizes the exercise of civil and political rights.
Since Aquino assumed the presidency, 304 activists were arrested and detained, bringing the number of political prisoners to 561.
According to human rights group Karapatan, 85 percent of political prisoners were slapped with criminal charges, a clear violation of the Hernandez political doctrine, a Supreme Court jurisprudence that prohibits the criminalization of political dissent.
Article printed from Bulatlat: http://bulatlat.com/main
URL to article: http://bulatlat.com/main/2016/01/09/ka-eddik/
URLs in this post:
[1] Missing alleged red Leader surfaces in Mindoro police jail:
[3] The political prisoner who never stopped learning: http://bulatlat.com/main/2008/04/07/the-political-prisoner-who-never-stopped-learning/
[4] NDFP consultant has spent a decade in prison: http://bulatlat.com/main/2014/05/14/ndfp-consultant-has-spent-a-decade-in-prison/
[5] Image: http://bulatlat.com/main/2016/01/09/ka-eddik/es-that-is-a-lie-pix/
[6] QC court orders release of NDF peace consultant imprisoned for 11 years: http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/10/22/qc-court-orders-release-of-ndf-peace-consultant-imprisoned-for-11-years/
[7] QC court junks another case vs longest-detained NDFP consultant: http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/12/01/qc-court-junks-another-case-vs-longest-detained-ndfp-consultant/
[9] Ailing NDFP peace consultant passes away: http://bulatlat.com/main/2016/01/08/ailing-ndfp-peace-consultant-passes-away/
[10] ‘Aquino, not cardiac arrest killed ailing NDFP consultant’: http://bulatlat.com/main/?p=88035
[11] Serrano, or Eddik to his family and friends, was an agriculture graduate of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños: http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/06/26/ndfp-consultant-denies-claims-by-pro-witness/
[12] Under Aquino, political dissent is a crime: http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/12/06/under-aquino-political-dissent-is-a-crime/
Maguindanao town fears BIFF, Christian militia sparking violence over land
From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 10): Maguindanao town fears BIFF, Christian militia sparking violence over land
DATU ABDULLAH SANGKI, Maguindanao, Philippines – Local leaders and residents have expressed fears that two armed groups from other areas could ignite animosity between Muslims and Christians, similar to the martial law situation here in the 1970s.
Former Vice-Mayor Datu Ali Camino urged local authorities and civil society groups to intervene, initially with an independent fact-finding mission to prevent a religious-based conflict that could be “ignited by outsiders.”
Camino was referring to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) from other areas, which claimed responsibility for the December 24 killings in three sub-villages here and in Ampatuan town, and the reported massing-up from another province of the dreaded Pulahan group, a pro-government militia organized during martial law.
Camino said prior to the Christmas Eve killings of 11 farmers in Sitio (sub-village) Paitan in Barangay Banaba here, and in Sitio Sabadoan, Barangay Kakal in nearby Ampatuan town, armed skirmishes took place last October between BIFF and the Pulahans.
Residents said the areas were too close to Barangay Durian, the common boundary of the two Maguindanao municipalities with Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat.
Municipal Councilor Anwar Emblawa said 15 families of Moro farmers were “installed” in April 2015 by the Municipal Agrarian Reform Office (MARO), as beneficiaries of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the area.
Emblawa said that when the beneficiaries assumed possession of the 40-hectare land in Banaba, they were accompanied by police and military authorities along with the MARO and other agrarian reform officials to prevent conflict with neighboring non-Muslim farmers.
Sammy Maulana, secretary-general of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), said what put a “religious color” into the conflict was that the BIFF attack took place on a Christmas Eve, which he described as “condemnable” and which has worsened the situation.
Until the December 24 attack, it had been a case of land conflict, since it started with the killings Penda Pangalam, 55, and his nephew Abubakar Maton, 17, in August 2015 allegedly by armed Pulahan men.
The Pulahans came from another province, purportedly to help local non-Moro residents oppose the awarding of Christian settlement lands to Muslim farmers, said an initial report by the CBCS, a federation or tri-people (Muslim-Christian and Indigenous People) non-government organizations.
In October 2015, five members of the group were killed in a clash with suspected BIFF guerrillas in Barangay Banaba, residents recalled.
Maulana said a fact-finding mission should also culminate with an interfaith dialogue. Some alumni of the Notre Dame of Dulawan High School, Maguindanao’s only Catholic school, in Datu Piang town volunteered to help facilitate an inter-religious dialogue to help prevent a situation of a religious-based animosity.
Sources at the Maguindanao Provincial Agrarian Reform Office (PARO), who declined to be named for lack of authority to speak, said the disputed area formed part of the Edcor Settlement, covered by territories declared public land by the American colonial government, before it was subjected to CARP.
They said the office had conducted a “series of dialogue with the affected parties, Muslims and Christians, prior to the awarding of the pre-patent land titles,” adding that they were not privy if any representative from the Pulahans were involved.
“But it may not be far-fetched that they (Pulahans) were misinformed and that what they knew is that the 40-hectare land given to the Moro tillers were squatted by its present occupants,” one of the sources said in Filipino. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/754301/maguindanao-town-fears-biff-christian-militia-sparking-violence-over-land
DATU ABDULLAH SANGKI, Maguindanao, Philippines – Local leaders and residents have expressed fears that two armed groups from other areas could ignite animosity between Muslims and Christians, similar to the martial law situation here in the 1970s.
Former Vice-Mayor Datu Ali Camino urged local authorities and civil society groups to intervene, initially with an independent fact-finding mission to prevent a religious-based conflict that could be “ignited by outsiders.”
Camino was referring to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) from other areas, which claimed responsibility for the December 24 killings in three sub-villages here and in Ampatuan town, and the reported massing-up from another province of the dreaded Pulahan group, a pro-government militia organized during martial law.
Camino said prior to the Christmas Eve killings of 11 farmers in Sitio (sub-village) Paitan in Barangay Banaba here, and in Sitio Sabadoan, Barangay Kakal in nearby Ampatuan town, armed skirmishes took place last October between BIFF and the Pulahans.
Residents said the areas were too close to Barangay Durian, the common boundary of the two Maguindanao municipalities with Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat.
Municipal Councilor Anwar Emblawa said 15 families of Moro farmers were “installed” in April 2015 by the Municipal Agrarian Reform Office (MARO), as beneficiaries of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the area.
Emblawa said that when the beneficiaries assumed possession of the 40-hectare land in Banaba, they were accompanied by police and military authorities along with the MARO and other agrarian reform officials to prevent conflict with neighboring non-Muslim farmers.
Sammy Maulana, secretary-general of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), said what put a “religious color” into the conflict was that the BIFF attack took place on a Christmas Eve, which he described as “condemnable” and which has worsened the situation.
Until the December 24 attack, it had been a case of land conflict, since it started with the killings Penda Pangalam, 55, and his nephew Abubakar Maton, 17, in August 2015 allegedly by armed Pulahan men.
The Pulahans came from another province, purportedly to help local non-Moro residents oppose the awarding of Christian settlement lands to Muslim farmers, said an initial report by the CBCS, a federation or tri-people (Muslim-Christian and Indigenous People) non-government organizations.
In October 2015, five members of the group were killed in a clash with suspected BIFF guerrillas in Barangay Banaba, residents recalled.
Maulana said a fact-finding mission should also culminate with an interfaith dialogue. Some alumni of the Notre Dame of Dulawan High School, Maguindanao’s only Catholic school, in Datu Piang town volunteered to help facilitate an inter-religious dialogue to help prevent a situation of a religious-based animosity.
Sources at the Maguindanao Provincial Agrarian Reform Office (PARO), who declined to be named for lack of authority to speak, said the disputed area formed part of the Edcor Settlement, covered by territories declared public land by the American colonial government, before it was subjected to CARP.
They said the office had conducted a “series of dialogue with the affected parties, Muslims and Christians, prior to the awarding of the pre-patent land titles,” adding that they were not privy if any representative from the Pulahans were involved.
“But it may not be far-fetched that they (Pulahans) were misinformed and that what they knew is that the 40-hectare land given to the Moro tillers were squatted by its present occupants,” one of the sources said in Filipino. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/754301/maguindanao-town-fears-biff-christian-militia-sparking-violence-over-land
Nur Misuari holds MNLF event in Sulu
From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 10): Nur Misuari holds MNLF event in Sulu
Fugitive Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) reportedly presided over a meeting of mixed MNLF loyal followers and combatants of the outlawed Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu last week, eluding field government security forces long wanting him recaptured.
“A large group of mostly heavily armed MNLF and Abu Sayyaf rebels turned up for the assembly called for by Misuari on Friday in Indanan town, Sulu,” Zamboanga City-based journalist Al Jacinto, quoting local sources, said in a report published Sunday.
The Friday meeting was reportedly meant for Misuari to discuss with his loyal followers and sympathizers his desire to attend an upcoming Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva.
Government forces “missed the opportunity to arrest the elusive Nur Misuar,” Jacinto said. The MNLF founding chairman has also been charged for the bloody attacks in Zamboanga City in 2001 and 2013, where hundreds of casualties were reported.
The 2013 Zamboanga City siege alone left some 190 people killed, more than 200 others wounded and over 19,000 individuals displaced. A considerable number of the displaced people have remained in evacuation camps, raising local and foreign humanitarian bodies’ concerns for their welfare in substandard conditions.
According to reports from UN agencies, several houses were destroyed by fire, and schools, airports and businesses were all shut down as a result of the siege that lasted for 20 days.
Quoting local sources, Jacinto said the Friday assembly “prompted the military to declare a red alert status in Sulu for fear the MNLF and Abu Sayyaf groups might launch fresh attacks against government targets.”
Suspected to have been long hiding in Sulu, Misuari “managed to pass through military checkpoints and gathered the rebel forces for the plenum undetected.”
Misuari, now in his mid-70s, signed the MNLF’s Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the government in Sept. 1996, a few days before then President Fidel Ramos had convinced him to run for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the 1997 elections, which he won easily with massive state party backing.
Under the FPA, the Philippine government was to provide a mini-Marshal Plan for economic development in ARMM areas, including livelihood and housing assistance to thousands of former rebels to improve their living conditions.
Accusing the government of not fully implementing the intent and spirit of the 1996 FPAI, Misuari and his loyal forces and former MNLF rebels attacked a key military base in Jolo town.
Misuari then escaped by boat to Malaysia, where he was eventually arrested and deported to the Philippines. He was subsequently pardoned by President Gloria Arroyo, in exchange for MNLF support on her election bid and her allies in 2004.
But the so-called MNLF Council of 15, a body allegedly orchestrated by the Arroyo administration in its bid to gain an observer seat at the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), ousted Misuari as chairman.
MNLF foreign affairs Chief Parouk Hussin, a Council of 15 key official, was elected ARMM governor in 2001 with full backing from the Arroyo administration.
Maguindanao-based Muslimin Sema, another Council of 15 co-founder, led the MNLF as its new chairman.
In 2014, Abul Khayr Alonto, one of MNLF founders who helped install Misuari as founding chieftain, was elected new MNLF chair by surviving members of the front’s “Top 90” original cadres.
Alonto and Sema have manifested official support on the government’s current peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which was founded in by now deceased Ustaz Salamat Hasim after bolting from the MNLF in 1980s. Misuari remains opposed to the government-MILF peace dealings.
Terror on the doorstep: Asian militants unite under Islamic State banner
From The Australian (Jan 11): Terror on the doorstep: Asian militants unite under Islamic State banner
Mindanao militants brandish the Islamic State flag.
Australia is facing fresh terror threats on its doorstep after Islamic State warned it had created a caliphate in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.
In exclusive video footage obtained by The Australian, the merger of four militant battalions and their machine gun-toting leaders are seen pledging allegiance to the self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, indicating Islamic State ambitions.
The video, showing militants carrying Islamic State flags, was posted on the internet on Friday but immediately removed.
It was filmed at a training camp in Basilan, Mindanao, an autonomous Muslim region bordering Malaysia.
Counter-terror expert and head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Rohan Gunaratna, yesterday warned the new wilayat, or province, posed major security concerns for Australia and Southeast Asia. “The recruits who cannot go to Syria because of travel restrictions will train in The Philippines and attack Australia and coalition interests on their return,” Dr Gunaratna said, adding the merger would present an unprecedented challenge to the government in Manila. “As the ‘soldiers of the caliphate’ in The Philippines, they will mount operations that will increasingly mirror IS’s core in Syria and Iraq.”
Islamic State has chosen the chief of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan, Isnilon Hapilon, as The Philippines leader.
Referring to him as Sheikh Mujahid Abu Abdullah Al-Filipini, Islamic State’s official newsletter, Al-Naba, reported on the amalgamation of the battalions of “mujahideen”.
The video, led by Hapilon, shows 41 mostly armed Filipinos and Malaysians, mainly from the Abu Sayyaf Group, which provides weapons in Indonesian terrorists, at the oath-taking ceremony. The four battalions had previously pledged to serve Islamic State, but individually.
The Ansar Al-Shariah battalion was represented by high-ranking Malaysian Abu Anas Al-Muhajir, aka Mohammad Bin Najib Bin Hussein, who presides over laws and other jurisprudence matters.
One of the five Malaysians who has joined the Abu Sayyaf Group, his face was not covered in the video. “Considering the importance given to a Malaysian by Isnilon Hapilon, Malaysians are likely to join IS Mindanao, ’’ Dr Gunaratna said.
He said Islamic State’s choice of a highly experienced, notorious leader in The Philippines presented a long-term regional threat.
Australian counter-terrorist expert Greg Barton yesterday said he was not surprised about the Islamic State development in The Philippines, only that it had taken so long to bubble to the surface. “I think we’re heading this year for attempts of large mass casualty incidents in Southeast Asia,” Professor Barton said.
It has long been the concern that military assault weapons could be moved easily around the region where security and patrols were minimal. “There will be this desire to launch IS-inspired attacks at home (Southeast Asia) — and certainly in Indonesia,’’ Professor Barton said, adding it did not bode well for Australia.
“I think we are back in the position we were in October 2002 where (attacks) … are much more likely to affect Australians in Southeast Asia than in Australia because of the number of jihadi groups and suicide attacks and numerous soft targets. It’s pretty easy in Indonesia.”
Despite propaganda being a hallmark of Islamic State, he said the terrorist group could not afford to be underestimated. “They have been very effective — more effective than any other terrorist group in history — at recruiting,” he said. “If IS invests heavily in Mindanao troubles, not only will that see more and more people swinging over to a very powerful brand but it may also lead to more people travelling to the Middle East.”
Professor Barton said there was a shift in Islamic State strategy where it recognised it was in for a long, hard struggle in Iraq and Syria and was seeking alternative locations “not necessarily as parallel caliphates but in the way of hedging their bets and keeping themselves relevant”.
Following the undated ceremony captured on the video, Islamic State stated: “The unification of the Mujahideen under one leadership and banner of the Caliphate is seen as a huge threat to the tyrants of The Philippines and is an important step in order to liberate areas in Southeast Asia in general. It has a huge significance in the spreading of tawhid (monotheism) in the region, fighting the Christians, Buddhists and other polytheists as well as establishing the religion of Allah in this part of the world.”
Dr Gunaratna warned beheadings, mass fatalities and casualty attacks could be expected.
The creation of terrorist training camps would lure not only Southeast Asians but other nationalities. In recent developments, ethnic Uighurs from China who could not travel to Syria to join al-Nusra Front or Islamic State travelled to Indonesia. Last month 13 militants were arrested on the island of Java, including one Muslim Uighur with a suicide-bomb vest.,Four were arrested in 2014. Australians seeking to join the jihadist cause were likely to use Mindanao as a training ground, Dr Gunaratna said. “Militants who train in the new IS province will determine the threat to their home countries,’’ he said. But Malaysia remained the most fertile recruitment ground for IS.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/terror-on-the-doorstep-asian-militants-unite-under-islamic-state-banner/news-story/127049a53b6084a9855f45ab5c5d0b7f
Mindanao militants brandish the Islamic State flag.
Australia is facing fresh terror threats on its doorstep after Islamic State warned it had created a caliphate in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.
In exclusive video footage obtained by The Australian, the merger of four militant battalions and their machine gun-toting leaders are seen pledging allegiance to the self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, indicating Islamic State ambitions.
The video, showing militants carrying Islamic State flags, was posted on the internet on Friday but immediately removed.
It was filmed at a training camp in Basilan, Mindanao, an autonomous Muslim region bordering Malaysia.
Counter-terror expert and head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Rohan Gunaratna, yesterday warned the new wilayat, or province, posed major security concerns for Australia and Southeast Asia. “The recruits who cannot go to Syria because of travel restrictions will train in The Philippines and attack Australia and coalition interests on their return,” Dr Gunaratna said, adding the merger would present an unprecedented challenge to the government in Manila. “As the ‘soldiers of the caliphate’ in The Philippines, they will mount operations that will increasingly mirror IS’s core in Syria and Iraq.”
Islamic State has chosen the chief of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan, Isnilon Hapilon, as The Philippines leader.
Referring to him as Sheikh Mujahid Abu Abdullah Al-Filipini, Islamic State’s official newsletter, Al-Naba, reported on the amalgamation of the battalions of “mujahideen”.
The video, led by Hapilon, shows 41 mostly armed Filipinos and Malaysians, mainly from the Abu Sayyaf Group, which provides weapons in Indonesian terrorists, at the oath-taking ceremony. The four battalions had previously pledged to serve Islamic State, but individually.
The Ansar Al-Shariah battalion was represented by high-ranking Malaysian Abu Anas Al-Muhajir, aka Mohammad Bin Najib Bin Hussein, who presides over laws and other jurisprudence matters.
One of the five Malaysians who has joined the Abu Sayyaf Group, his face was not covered in the video. “Considering the importance given to a Malaysian by Isnilon Hapilon, Malaysians are likely to join IS Mindanao, ’’ Dr Gunaratna said.
He said Islamic State’s choice of a highly experienced, notorious leader in The Philippines presented a long-term regional threat.
Australian counter-terrorist expert Greg Barton yesterday said he was not surprised about the Islamic State development in The Philippines, only that it had taken so long to bubble to the surface. “I think we’re heading this year for attempts of large mass casualty incidents in Southeast Asia,” Professor Barton said.
It has long been the concern that military assault weapons could be moved easily around the region where security and patrols were minimal. “There will be this desire to launch IS-inspired attacks at home (Southeast Asia) — and certainly in Indonesia,’’ Professor Barton said, adding it did not bode well for Australia.
“I think we are back in the position we were in October 2002 where (attacks) … are much more likely to affect Australians in Southeast Asia than in Australia because of the number of jihadi groups and suicide attacks and numerous soft targets. It’s pretty easy in Indonesia.”
Despite propaganda being a hallmark of Islamic State, he said the terrorist group could not afford to be underestimated. “They have been very effective — more effective than any other terrorist group in history — at recruiting,” he said. “If IS invests heavily in Mindanao troubles, not only will that see more and more people swinging over to a very powerful brand but it may also lead to more people travelling to the Middle East.”
Professor Barton said there was a shift in Islamic State strategy where it recognised it was in for a long, hard struggle in Iraq and Syria and was seeking alternative locations “not necessarily as parallel caliphates but in the way of hedging their bets and keeping themselves relevant”.
Following the undated ceremony captured on the video, Islamic State stated: “The unification of the Mujahideen under one leadership and banner of the Caliphate is seen as a huge threat to the tyrants of The Philippines and is an important step in order to liberate areas in Southeast Asia in general. It has a huge significance in the spreading of tawhid (monotheism) in the region, fighting the Christians, Buddhists and other polytheists as well as establishing the religion of Allah in this part of the world.”
Dr Gunaratna warned beheadings, mass fatalities and casualty attacks could be expected.
The creation of terrorist training camps would lure not only Southeast Asians but other nationalities. In recent developments, ethnic Uighurs from China who could not travel to Syria to join al-Nusra Front or Islamic State travelled to Indonesia. Last month 13 militants were arrested on the island of Java, including one Muslim Uighur with a suicide-bomb vest.,Four were arrested in 2014. Australians seeking to join the jihadist cause were likely to use Mindanao as a training ground, Dr Gunaratna said. “Militants who train in the new IS province will determine the threat to their home countries,’’ he said. But Malaysia remained the most fertile recruitment ground for IS.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/terror-on-the-doorstep-asian-militants-unite-under-islamic-state-banner/news-story/127049a53b6084a9855f45ab5c5d0b7f
MILF: A good BBL will give justice to Bangsamoro question: MILF officer
Posted to the MILF Website (Jan 10): A good BBL will give justice to Bangsamoro question: MILF officer
An officer of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said that once a good Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is approved, the Bangsamoro question is given justice.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/new/item/780-a-good-bbl-will-give-justice-to-bangsamoro-question-milf-officer
An officer of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said that once a good Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is approved, the Bangsamoro question is given justice.
“Once a
good BBL is approved, it is not only economic development that will be taking
place in the Bangsamoro but of the political, cultural and social development
will propel. Above all, the Bangsamoro question is given justice,” Toks
Ibrahim, MILF Administrative Chief said in his welcome message.
Ibrahim
refers the “good BBL” to the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro
(CAB)-compliant BBL, a measure that will give the Bangsamoro people a defined
territory with their self-governance attuned to the Bangsamoro culture, belief
and situation.
He welcomed
the attendees during the service presentation ceremony of Department of
Agriculture’s Farmers’ Assistance Program (FAP) for the six previously
acknowledged MILF Camps held at the Bangsamoro Leadership and Management
Institute at Simuay, Sultan Kudarat Maguindanao on January 6, 2015.
“The real
BBL in the House of Congress is not the barometer to continue the economic
development of the Bangsamoro communities because development is hand-in-hand
responsibility of every leader,” pointed out.
FAP is a
program that provides the necessary assistance to farmer beneficiaries to boost
agricultural production in the target communities.
The
development intervention for the MILF communities is an initial
confidence-building measure under the Bangsamoro peace process as stipulated in
the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the MILF and
the Philippine government.
“This
is a good beginning to work the miles of peace journey. We believe that peace
will not end on taking, but on action,” he added.
DA
Secretary Proceso Alcala, turned-over to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) agricultural equipment, inputs and has also pledged capability-building
training for farmer-beneficiaries aimed to transform six acknowledged MILF
camps into peaceful communities.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/new/item/780-a-good-bbl-will-give-justice-to-bangsamoro-question-milf-officer
AFP issues conflicting figures about NPA strength
From the Philippine Star (Jan 10): AFP issues conflicting figures about NPA strength
AFP chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri reported last Friday that the number of NPA members stood at 3,926 as of the end of 2015 from 4,443 in 2014. File photo
The military appeared to have released conflicting data about the strength of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the remaining communist insurgency in Asia.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed over the weekend that the numbers of the NPA are dwindling but the figures it presented are not consistent with the ones it released last year.
AFP chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri reported last Friday that the number of NPA members stood at 3,926 as of the end of 2015 from 4,443 in 2014. He said a total of 31 insurgents have been captured or killed last year. The military also claimed to have dismantled 13 guerilla fronts and cleared 292 barangays from communist rebels.
The figures released last Friday, however, were different from those cited in an AFP press release given to the media last July. The press release dated July 3, 2015 said there were 3,200 NPA members as of the end of 2014.
“Based on the 2014 Yearend report, there were 3,200 armed members (NPA). In the first quarter of 2015, the AFP has recorded the neutralization of 340 armed members,” the press release read.
“Neutralized” is a military term that refers to rebels who were killed, arrested or captured by security forces.
On one hand, if the AFP press release issued last year is accurate, then the NPA actually gained strength as its membership rose to 3,926 last year from 3,200 in 2014.
On the other hand, if Iriberri accurately reported that the NPA’s strength was at 4,443 in 2014, then the 2015 press release was wrong in saying that the number of rebels two years ago was just 3,200.
The STAR tried to seek clarification on the conflicting figures from AFP spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla on Saturday. Padilla said he would refer the query to military officials handling the statistics.
Security officials have claimed that all reports and figures they release to the public are carefully validated and are based on intelligence reports.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/10/1541195/afp-issues-conflicting-figures-about-npa-strength
AFP chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri reported last Friday that the number of NPA members stood at 3,926 as of the end of 2015 from 4,443 in 2014. File photo
The military appeared to have released conflicting data about the strength of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the remaining communist insurgency in Asia.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed over the weekend that the numbers of the NPA are dwindling but the figures it presented are not consistent with the ones it released last year.
AFP chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri reported last Friday that the number of NPA members stood at 3,926 as of the end of 2015 from 4,443 in 2014. He said a total of 31 insurgents have been captured or killed last year. The military also claimed to have dismantled 13 guerilla fronts and cleared 292 barangays from communist rebels.
The figures released last Friday, however, were different from those cited in an AFP press release given to the media last July. The press release dated July 3, 2015 said there were 3,200 NPA members as of the end of 2014.
“Based on the 2014 Yearend report, there were 3,200 armed members (NPA). In the first quarter of 2015, the AFP has recorded the neutralization of 340 armed members,” the press release read.
“Neutralized” is a military term that refers to rebels who were killed, arrested or captured by security forces.
On one hand, if the AFP press release issued last year is accurate, then the NPA actually gained strength as its membership rose to 3,926 last year from 3,200 in 2014.
On the other hand, if Iriberri accurately reported that the NPA’s strength was at 4,443 in 2014, then the 2015 press release was wrong in saying that the number of rebels two years ago was just 3,200.
The STAR tried to seek clarification on the conflicting figures from AFP spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla on Saturday. Padilla said he would refer the query to military officials handling the statistics.
Security officials have claimed that all reports and figures they release to the public are carefully validated and are based on intelligence reports.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/01/10/1541195/afp-issues-conflicting-figures-about-npa-strength
ISIS to declare a province in Mindanao?
From Rappler (Jan 10): ISIS to declare a province in Mindanao?
EXCLUSIVE: New video released on January 4, 2016 shows consolidation of extremist groups pledging allegiance to ISIS in the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines – The Islamic State in Syria & Iraq, also known as ISIS, IS, ISIL, or Da'esch, its loose arabic acronym, may soon declare a wilayat or province in the southern Philippines. If so, it would be the first recognized satellite extension of the caliphate in Southeast Asia.
A new video from Mindanao which began circulating on the dark web jihadi forum Shumukh al-Islam on January 4, 2016 shows Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon marching with other extremist leaders from Sulu and Basilan, including Abu Sharifa, the leader of Ansar al-Khilafa, among the most aggressive and targeted Filipino groups linked to ISIS. The groups pledge allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“The IS-initiated merger of the fighting formations and unifications of the leaders will present an unprecedented challenge to the Manila government,” terror expert Rohan Gunaratna told Rappler. Gunaratna is the author of Inside al-Qaeda and the head of the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research in Singapore.
“With the proclamation of an IS branch in the southern Philippines, the IS influence and ideology is likely to grow, affecting both the southern Philippines and eastern Malaysia. IS is likely to create a safe haven in Basilan and mount operations from the Sulu archipelago into both the Philippines and Malaysia,” Gunaratna added.
The most prominent figure in the video is ideological leader Isnilon Hapilon, but this isn’t the first time he’s declared support for ISIS.
On July 23, 2014, a video of senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon along with masked men was posted on YouTube, first reported by Rappler. Hapilon carries a reward of up to $5 million from the US Rewards for Justice Program. He was indicted in the District of Columbia for “terrorist acts against United States nationals and other foreign nationals.” The FBI says he was “the deputy or second in command for the foreign terrorist organization, the Abu Sayyaf.”
What’s new about this latest video is the consolidation of different groups saying they declare allegiance to ISIS. Post-produced to show photo insets of the different commanders, it shows Hapilon, aka Abdullah al-Filipini, who claims to be the leader of the Basilan branch of the Abu Sayyaf. He’s joined by Abu Anas al-Muhajir, leader of the Ansar al-Shariah Battalion, Abu Harith al Filipini, a representative of the Ma’arakat al-Ansar Battalion in Sulu. Also in the group is Abu Sharifa, the leader of Ansar al-Khilafa, most recently the target of military operations last month.
That same training camp was featured in the middle of another video released on social media in November threatening the APEC summit.
(READ: ISIS’ global ambitions and plans for Southeast Asia)
Government officials and military officers from the Philippines largely dismissed the training video and claims of allegiance since 2014, saying they were more aspirational than real.
“They’re not really ISIS,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla told reporters in December. “We view them as mere criminal gangs.”
"Karamihan po diyan kasi ay nakatuon sa pagbibigay ng simpatiya at saka pangingikil o paghingi ng ransom 'yung kadalasan yung iba," said Padilla. (Most of the videos are meant to offer sympathy to ISIS concerns and others are meant to extort ransom.)
Other officials dismissed the claims as propaganda, some pointing to the APEC non-threat.
The Philippines’ National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia said, “ISIS has no training camps in the Philippines.”
Rappler started reporting the black flag adopted by Filipino groups as early 2011, when it largely symbolized al-Qaeda. Since then, like many extremist groups globally, the “black flag” extremists shifted from inspiration by al-Qaeda to ISIS. First posted on Rappler, this is the first known photo of what was then a rag-tag group of extremists now known as Ansar al-Khilafa.
What seems clear is that the old networks powered by al-Qaeda’s ideology have adapted, using the same links forged by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), once al-Qaeda’s network in Southeast Asia. As JI was decimated, the networks transformed, showing evidence that ISIS has been grafted onto these deep roots.
(WATCH: Q&A: ISIS in Southeast Asia)
The presence of foreigners in extremist networks show the evolution of the JI networks into ISIS.
In December, the Philippine military confirmed Malaysian Mohammed Najib Husen was among 26 Abu Sayyaf members killed in operations in Basilan. He was among 3 Malaysians who fled to the Philippines to train and recruit fighters for ISIS.
In late November, the military claimed it killed Indonesian Ibrahim Alih, also known as Abdul Fatah, linked to the JI suicide attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004. He was allegedly among 8 killed in a battle with Ansar al-Khilafa.
While the Philippine government and military remains steadfast in its statements that there are no operational links between ISIS and Filipino groups, a traditional order of battle analysis may be moot in today’s threat landscape given ISIS’ ability to spark homegrown attacks like Paris.
(WATCH: Rappler Talk: ISIS in Southeast Asia)
Filipino officials have warned about ISIS recruitment in Mindanao, but in 2015, more than 65 countries, led by the United States and its allies, pulled together to find an effective way of countering ISIS threat on social media.
(READ: How to fight ISIS? Build communities)
Gunaratna encourages the Philippines to take pro-active measures to deal with the threat sooner rather than later, especially with a potential roadblock in the peace process. He outlines a 5-step process ISIS follows to expand beyond its core area in Iraq and Syria.
"First, raising awareness of the Islamic Caliphate through propaganda," he said. "Second, a series of groups pledging their allegiance to the 'Caliph.' Third, selection of groups to form a province. Fourth, the selection of a leader to lead the IS branch, and fifth, the IS proclamation of a designated area as a province of the Caliphate. In the Philippines, the next step the IS is likely to take is the proclamation of Wilayat Mindanao."
“The most enduring threat will be the creation of terrorist training camps that will use not only Southeast Asians but other nationalities,” added Gunaratna, pointing to the JI training camps set up in the early 90’s as precedence. “It is very likely that ISIS will dispatch its explosives experts, combat tacticians and other operatives. The IS plans to declare a state in Mindanao presents a very real threat to the stability and security of Asia.”
http://www.rappler.com/nation/118553-isis-declare-province-mindanao
EXCLUSIVE: New video released on January 4, 2016 shows consolidation of extremist groups pledging allegiance to ISIS in the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines – The Islamic State in Syria & Iraq, also known as ISIS, IS, ISIL, or Da'esch, its loose arabic acronym, may soon declare a wilayat or province in the southern Philippines. If so, it would be the first recognized satellite extension of the caliphate in Southeast Asia.
A new video from Mindanao which began circulating on the dark web jihadi forum Shumukh al-Islam on January 4, 2016 shows Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon marching with other extremist leaders from Sulu and Basilan, including Abu Sharifa, the leader of Ansar al-Khilafa, among the most aggressive and targeted Filipino groups linked to ISIS. The groups pledge allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“The IS-initiated merger of the fighting formations and unifications of the leaders will present an unprecedented challenge to the Manila government,” terror expert Rohan Gunaratna told Rappler. Gunaratna is the author of Inside al-Qaeda and the head of the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research in Singapore.
“With the proclamation of an IS branch in the southern Philippines, the IS influence and ideology is likely to grow, affecting both the southern Philippines and eastern Malaysia. IS is likely to create a safe haven in Basilan and mount operations from the Sulu archipelago into both the Philippines and Malaysia,” Gunaratna added.
Who are they?
On July 23, 2014, a video of senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon along with masked men was posted on YouTube, first reported by Rappler. Hapilon carries a reward of up to $5 million from the US Rewards for Justice Program. He was indicted in the District of Columbia for “terrorist acts against United States nationals and other foreign nationals.” The FBI says he was “the deputy or second in command for the foreign terrorist organization, the Abu Sayyaf.”
What’s new about this latest video is the consolidation of different groups saying they declare allegiance to ISIS. Post-produced to show photo insets of the different commanders, it shows Hapilon, aka Abdullah al-Filipini, who claims to be the leader of the Basilan branch of the Abu Sayyaf. He’s joined by Abu Anas al-Muhajir, leader of the Ansar al-Shariah Battalion, Abu Harith al Filipini, a representative of the Ma’arakat al-Ansar Battalion in Sulu. Also in the group is Abu Sharifa, the leader of Ansar al-Khilafa, most recently the target of military operations last month.
This follows a December video released by another ISIS account of Filipino jihadists allegedly training in the southern Philippines.
(READ: ISIS’ global ambitions and plans for Southeast Asia)
Government officials and military officers from the Philippines largely dismissed the training video and claims of allegiance since 2014, saying they were more aspirational than real.
“They’re not really ISIS,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla told reporters in December. “We view them as mere criminal gangs.”
"Karamihan po diyan kasi ay nakatuon sa pagbibigay ng simpatiya at saka pangingikil o paghingi ng ransom 'yung kadalasan yung iba," said Padilla. (Most of the videos are meant to offer sympathy to ISIS concerns and others are meant to extort ransom.)
Other officials dismissed the claims as propaganda, some pointing to the APEC non-threat.
The Philippines’ National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia said, “ISIS has no training camps in the Philippines.”
Black flag
BLACK FLAG. Filipinos carry the black flag in the southern Philippines. Sourced by Rappler
What seems clear is that the old networks powered by al-Qaeda’s ideology have adapted, using the same links forged by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), once al-Qaeda’s network in Southeast Asia. As JI was decimated, the networks transformed, showing evidence that ISIS has been grafted onto these deep roots.
(WATCH: Q&A: ISIS in Southeast Asia)
The presence of foreigners in extremist networks show the evolution of the JI networks into ISIS.
In December, the Philippine military confirmed Malaysian Mohammed Najib Husen was among 26 Abu Sayyaf members killed in operations in Basilan. He was among 3 Malaysians who fled to the Philippines to train and recruit fighters for ISIS.
In late November, the military claimed it killed Indonesian Ibrahim Alih, also known as Abdul Fatah, linked to the JI suicide attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004. He was allegedly among 8 killed in a battle with Ansar al-Khilafa.
Danger ahead
(WATCH: Rappler Talk: ISIS in Southeast Asia)
Filipino officials have warned about ISIS recruitment in Mindanao, but in 2015, more than 65 countries, led by the United States and its allies, pulled together to find an effective way of countering ISIS threat on social media.
(READ: How to fight ISIS? Build communities)
Gunaratna encourages the Philippines to take pro-active measures to deal with the threat sooner rather than later, especially with a potential roadblock in the peace process. He outlines a 5-step process ISIS follows to expand beyond its core area in Iraq and Syria.
"First, raising awareness of the Islamic Caliphate through propaganda," he said. "Second, a series of groups pledging their allegiance to the 'Caliph.' Third, selection of groups to form a province. Fourth, the selection of a leader to lead the IS branch, and fifth, the IS proclamation of a designated area as a province of the Caliphate. In the Philippines, the next step the IS is likely to take is the proclamation of Wilayat Mindanao."
“The most enduring threat will be the creation of terrorist training camps that will use not only Southeast Asians but other nationalities,” added Gunaratna, pointing to the JI training camps set up in the early 90’s as precedence. “It is very likely that ISIS will dispatch its explosives experts, combat tacticians and other operatives. The IS plans to declare a state in Mindanao presents a very real threat to the stability and security of Asia.”
http://www.rappler.com/nation/118553-isis-declare-province-mindanao
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