Under threat

From the Mindanao Times (Sep 5): Under threat

Exporters seek DND help in securing banana farms in NPA controlled-areas

LOCAL exporters are seeking the help of Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana to secure agri-plantations they claimed to be under threat from the New People’s Army.

 

Ferdinand Maranon, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation (PEC) XI, said they invited Lorenzana to be their resource speaker for their upcoming conference.

 

Lorenzana has accepted the invitation to appear in the conference set on Sept. 12 and 13 at the SMX convention center.

“There is a very big problem in the banana industry for now and it is the peace and order problem,” Maranon said during yesterday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw held at the activity area of the annex building of the SM City Davao. “(We want to) know what’s the solution of the government to this problem.”

Maranon said thousands of banana growers will be attending the conference.

He lamented the continued practice of the NPA in burning trucks, machineries, and other equipment used by banana companies.

“It really has a big effect,” Maranon said.

He said major exporters like Lapanday and Dole Philippines are suffering from this “major problem in the farms.”

He is hoping that the conference with the DND Sec. Lorenzana could lay “the best solution” to the armed threats.

The DND is the government agency tasked to guard against external and internal threats to peace and security in the country. It supervises, among others, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Don’t give

Maranon is also urging their members not to give in to the demands of the NPA.

“If we are giving them always we are just making the armed group powerful because they can already procure firearms and so on,” he added.

Last April 29, NPA guerillas staged simultaneous attacks in the three Lapanday Foods Corporation-owned warehouses and ranch in the region. They burned two box plants in Mandug and took away several firearms from the security guards.

The communist rebels also attacked the company’s Macondray plastic plant in Bunawan and disarmed its guards. High-powered firearms were seized by the NPA in the Lorenzo-owned ranch in Barangay Pangyan, Calinan District.

In August last year, the multi-national banana firm Dole-Stanfilco shut down its operation in Tagbina, Surigao del Sur following a series of attacks by NPA members on its container trucks. The company employed over 1,500 workers on its 400-hectare plantation.

 

http://mindanaotimes.net/under-threat/

Photo: Meeting the MILF

From MindaNews (Sep 5): Photo: Meeting the MILF

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte meets with Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim (3rd from left) at the Malacañan Palace on Tuesday (4 September 2017). With Murad are MILF peace implementing panel Chair Mohagher Iqbal and Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) Chair Ghazali Jaafar. Presidential photo courtesy of RENE LUMAWAG

http://www.mindanews.com/photo-of-the-day/2017/09/meeting-the-milf/

11 foreign militants killed in Marawi battle

From the Mindanao Examiner (Sep 4): 11 foreign militants killed in Marawi battle



Rear Admiral Rene Medina, commander of the Naval Forces in Western Mindanao, speaks to soldiers during his visit on September 3, 2017 in the war-ravaged city of Marawi. (Mindanao Examiner

Security forces had killed at least 11 foreign militants along with over 600 local ISIS fighters in fierce clashes in the war-ravaged city of Marawi in southern Philippines, officials said Monday.

Rear Admiral Rene Medina, commander of the Naval Forces in Western Mindanao, said some 150 soldiers also died from the fighting since May 23 when militants occupied Marawi and declared it a province of the Islamic State.

“Despite its losses, the government will never concede to lawless elements and will even further its efforts to put an end to these groups who threaten our freedom and democracy,” said Medina, who inspected troops at the battle field over the weekend.

He did not say whether the enemy casualties were based on body counts or intelligence reports. The identities of the foreigners remain unknown, although previous military statements claimed some of them were from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

While in Marawi, Medina was also briefed by the 1st Marine Brigade and Naval Special Operations Group on the progress of the military operations against militants, who are still holding dozens of civilian hostages, including a Catholic priest and church workers.

Details of the security briefing were not made public, but the navy headquarters in Zamboanga City said “Fleet-Marine operations in the city and other matters pertaining to the troops’ efforts to liberate Marawi and its residents were discussed.”

Medina also visited wounded soldiers in hospitals in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro and had meals with soldiers.

Last week, the military deployed 102 female soldiers and policewomen to help local efforts in addressing the needs of families displaced by the crisis. The contingent is composed of 40 policewomen and 62 army members – mostly Muslims – who will be assigned to different evacuation centers in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte and in Iligan City.

They all underwent special training on gender and development and studied modules on cultural sensitivity prior to their deployment and will also assist in the many aspects of recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of Marawi. They were trained in Psycho Social Intervention and Peace Education to assist in the implementation of programs to help the evacuees.

http://mindanaoexaminer.com/11-foreign-militants-killed-in-marawi-battle/

Juridical persecution of peace consultants undercuts 25-yr-old framework deal – legal consultants

From InterAksyon (Sep 3): Juridical persecution of peace consultants undercuts 25-yr-old framework deal – legal consultants



NDFP peace consultant Wilma Austria and her husband, Benito Tiamzon, member of the rebel peace panel, are seen in Kodao Productions file photo.

The recent and impending juridical moves and orders by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) to cancel the bail bonds and recommit to jail the political consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) “make a travesty of solemn and binding agreements entered into by the Parties,” the rebels’ legal consultants said at the weekend.

“Not only are these persecutory, they are tantamount to blackmail and smack of strong-arm negotiating tactics because they are designed to compel one party to unilaterally submit to the other’s position by imposing one’s legal and judicial process on the other,” lawyers Edre Olalia and Rachel Pastores in a statement to media.

The two, who are also officials of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, said “the precipitate issuance or threats of issuance of warrants of arrest for failure to comply with unilateral coercive conditions also make a mockery of the fact that the peace negotiations have not yet been terminated officially, definitely and properly since there is up to date still no written formal notice of termination properly addressed to the NDFP which is mandatory and cannot be set aside.”

Such moves and orders by the Duterte government, they added, “disregard the overarching 1995 Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) that should respect and protect the rights, safety and security of individuals of both parties involved or participating in the peace negotiations.”

Describing them as “hardline moves,” Olalia and Pastores said the government’s acts violate the 1998 Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which prohibit political persecution and trumped-up charges.

“More fundamentally,” they said, “they insult the seminal Hague Joint Declaration solemnly entered into by the Parties 25 years ago.” The landmark document mandates there should be no precondition tending to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations, they stressed.

“To penalize and punish individuals involved in the peace negotiations by draconian legal justifications and use them as trump cards or quid pro quo for capitulation (e.g. a premature indefinite ceasefire without agreeing to substantive reforms to address the roots of the armed conflict) frontally puts this Declaration and its rationale to continuing peril,” NUPL added.

Moreover, they “set a bad precedent for future negotiations – if and when they would still resume – and legally straitjackets anyone who want to earnestly contribute or work in good faith for a truly just and lasting peace through the platform of peace talks.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/juridical-persecution-of-peace-consultants-undercuts-25-yr-old-framework-deal-nupl/

Covering the Peace Talks

From the Manila Bulletin (Sep 3): Covering the Peace Talks

GIVING PEACE A CHANCE Peace signs and the popular Duterte fist are flashed at the close of the Second Round of the Formal Negotiations between the Philippine Government (GRP) and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Oslo, Norway last October. Seated from left are NDFP Peace Panel Chairman Fidel Agcaoili, CPP Founding chairman and NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison, Ambassador Elisabeth Slattum of Third Party Facilitator Royal Norwegian Government, Presidential adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, and Philippine Government Peace Panel chairman Silvestre Bello III. Behind them are (from left) NDFP senior adviser Luis Jalandoni, and NDFP Peace Panel members Benito Tiamzon, Asterio Palima, Connie Ledesma and Julie de Lima; GRP Peace Panel Members Hernani Braganza, Rene Sarmiento, Angela Librado Trinidad and Antonio Arellano, and GRP consultants Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, and Commission on Higher Education (Ched) Commissioner Prospero De Vera.

There were tense moments when we arrived at the Scandic Holmenkollen Hotel in Oslo, Norway on Aug. 21 last year.

Although the hosts from the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) said that August was their hottest month of the year, the 10-degree centigrade weather, coupled with the nippy, cold wind at the historic ski resort located on the hills of Oslo, still lent a chilling atmosphere to what would be the first round of the peace negotiations between the Philippine Government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

After all, the two sides have been at war for nearly 50 years. No love lost between them. No warm, cordial greetings here, I thought.

“Joma is already in his room,” a staff member of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) told me, referring to Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the guy who, we could say, started it all.

Then one by one, they came down to the hotel lobby, the stalwarts and powers-that-are of the Communist insurgency in the Philippines, dreaded and even notorious in the eyes of the common Filipino—Sison, Jalandoni, Agcaoili, Tiamzon.

Those were names that, in my over 20 years as a journalist, I only read in newspaper reports (and Google and Wikipedia later) as the giants of the Communist movement in the Philippines.

And yet, on that cold August afternoon in Norway, they were there before me, re-awakening the revolutionary in me during my college days, and rekindling the excitement that enthralled me when I met legends like Robert Jaworski, Joker Arroyo, Fernando Poe Jr., Roger Moore, Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela, Lucio Margallo, and President Rodrigo Roa Dutere, among many others.

You know, the kind of meeting that draws a “Wow, so that’s who they are.”

“Joma,” of course, possessed the stately presence as expected, so did former priest and NDFP chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni.

But looking around the lobby of the Holmenkollen, the gathering of the Leftist leaders at the start of the talks lent a warm feeling that it was just like any Filipino family reunion.

Spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon looked like they were on a honeymoon, and not in Oslo for peace negotiations, as they hardly let go of each other’s hand. The couple even cried as they shared a tight embrace with Sison at the lobby.

Then there was Fidel Agcaoili, who was then NDFP Peace Panel member, who gamely played host to his 40-or-so comrades, many of whom had just been freed from detention centers in the Philippines and had gone straight to Oslo on the strength of President Duterte’s order to release all those that the NDFP would name as its consultants.



FACE-TO-FACE The two panels meet anew at the Radison Blu Hotel in Noordwijk ann see, The Netherlands last May in a bid to rescue faltering peace talks.

Then there was another NDFP consultant Randy Malayao, who earnestly recorded the events on his iPad, while welcoming the other consultants coming in from 20-hour flights from the Philippines.

Obviously possessing a newfound sense of freedom, Malayao—who was accused of being involved in the killing of former Cagayan governor and then congressman Rodolfo Aguinaldo—had even been accommodating to media, introducing each of the New People’s Army (NPA) commanders, who were tapped as NDFP consultants, as they entered Holmenkollen Hotel.

After a few minutes, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, GRP Peace Panel chairman Silvestre Bello III and panel member Hernani Braganza arrived to join the NDFP in that reunion at the lobby.

This meeting caught the media group, which had come to cover the first round of talks (ABS CBN’s Danny Buenafe, GMA 7’s Raffy Tima, TV5’s Romel Lopez, PTV 4’s George Bandiola, Rappler’s Carmela Fonbuena, and Kodao Production’s Raymon Villannueva) by surprise.

For instead of stoic, antagonistic stares, there was respect, enthusiasm, and warmth all around. I could even swear there was a roar of greetings around the place.

It reminded me of that vicious Irish charge in the movie Braveheart, when a brutal confrontation with the Scots under William Wallace looked inevitable, until both sides met in the middle of the meadows of Falikirik only to break out into a wild cry while hugging each other in a show of unity.

And while Wallace and company might have been defiant of English invaders, the Filipino negotiators looked like they were one in fighting the rigors and challenges of what had been an elusive quest for peace.

Buenafe, the veteran ABS CBN bureau chief for Europe and Middle East who has been covering these talks since the ’90s, noted that there was not much of a friction as he had observed in past negotiations.

Tima noted that it was perhaps Duterte’s own enthusiasm over the resumption of the peace talks that set the light tone.

The first round went on without a hitch, setting the stage for further negotiations.

But in the succeeding rounds that included a return to Oslo in October, a trip to Rome, Italy for the third round to escape the cold weather of Norway, and two more highly volatile meetings in The Netherlands, the negotiations were rendered more complicated as the nitty-gritty of the Leftists’ demands was discussed.



And it didn’t help that the NPA renewed attacks just as the two panels were meeting in Rome. That led to the end of ceasefires unilaterally declared by both sides six months earlier, and sparked a series of violent confrontations between the forces of the government and the Communists that all but doomed the talks.

Since then, there have been efforts to rescue the talks, the latest of which was on July 20 when a GRP team was already at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) departure area, their bags at the check-in counter and ready to depart for The Netherlands for back channel talks with the NDFP, until a call came from Malacañang ordering them to abandon the talks.

The order was spawned by an NPA attack on a convoy of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) in Arakan, North Cotabato a day before, an assault that might have all but snuffed out any remaining patience that Duterte might have had for the Communists.

A few weeks later, Braganza celebrated his birthday at a Quezon City joint. Agcaoili was there. At that time, word was already out that the NDFP consultants, who were given safe passage by the government because of the talks, could be re-arrested at any time, and no one could blame him for feeling so uneasy.

After all, while there was no pending charge against him, Agcaoili should have been the last NDFP personality to be at the party, considering that—well, he’s with the Communists—and that among Braganza’s well-wishers were top military and police brass.

But there was Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista, a consultant of the government panel on the urban poor, who came up to Agcaoili and assured him that for as long as he was in his city, he would not be arrested.

His apprehensions aside, Agcaoili joined our table. The media group covering the talks has since referred to itself as the “Humps and Bumps Media Group” in reference to the cliché that Dureza used in his speeches during the talks.

As the party heated up, Agcaoili didn’t need much prodding when the media guys asked him to join Braganza, former ’70s folk singer and now-GRP panel consultant Pancho Lara, and singer Cookie Chua on stage.

Lara and Chua sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” before Braganza and Agcaoili joined in, their arms already slung over each other’s shoulders like they were comrades rather than opponents who threw invectives at each other across the negotiation table in those word wars in Europe.

Mid-way in the song, Braganza and Agcaoili looked into each other’s eyes as they sang out loud, “Imagine all the people, living life in peace.”

The “Yoohoo” that followed was deafening.

It was then that our so-called Humps and Bumps Media Group realized that the story we had been following for a year might not yet be over.




BREAK IN TALKS Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza (fifth from right) and Philippine Panel Chairman Silvestre Bello (eighth from right) join Philippine journalists covering the peace talks at the Radison Blu Hotel in Noordwijk ann see, The Netherlands. Top photo shows (from right) NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison, Norway Ambassador to the Philippines Erik Forner, NDFP Peace Panel Chairman Fidel Agcaoili, GRP Peace Panel Chairman Silvestre Bello III, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay, and Royal Norwegian Government Third Party Facilitator Ambassador Elisabeth Slattum at the close of the Third Round of the Formal Talks in Rome, Italy last January.
There is still hope.

The other journalists,who have since joined us after the first round were Kaye Imson from TV5, PTV 4’s Ria Fernandez and SweedenVelado, Inquirer’s Karlos Manlupig, and Davao journalists Zea Correa Capistrano and Grace Udin.

Text and Images by Rocky Nazareno

There were tense moments when we arrived at the Scandic Holmenkollen Hotel in Oslo, Norway on Aug. 21 last year.

Although the hosts from the Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) said that August was their hottest month of the year, the 10-degree centigrade weather, coupled with the nippy, cold wind at the historic ski resort located on the hills of Oslo, still lent a chilling atmosphere to what would be the first round of the peace negotiations between the Philippine Government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

After all, the two sides have been at war for nearly 50 years. No love lost between them. No warm, cordial greetings here, I thought.

“Joma is already in his room,” a staff member of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) told me, referring to Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the guy who, we could say, started it all.

Then one by one, they came down to the hotel lobby, the stalwarts and powers-that-are of the Communist insurgency in the Philippines, dreaded and even notorious in the eyes of the common Filipino—Sison, Jalandoni, Agcaoili, Tiamzon.

Those were names that, in my over 20 years as a journalist, I only read in newspaper reports (and Google and Wikipedia later) as the giants of the Communist movement in the Philippines.

And yet, on that cold August afternoon in Norway, they were there before me, re-awakening the revolutionary in me during my college days, and rekindling the excitement that enthralled me when I met legends like Robert Jaworski, Joker Arroyo, Fernando Poe Jr., Roger Moore, Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela, Lucio Margallo, and President Rodrigo Roa Dutere, among many others.

You know, the kind of meeting that draws a “Wow, so that’s who they are.”

“Joma,” of course, possessed the stately presence as expected, so did former priest and NDFP chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni.

But looking around the lobby of the Holmenkollen, the gathering of the Leftist leaders at the start of the talks lent a warm feeling that it was just like any Filipino family reunion.

Spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon looked like they were on a honeymoon, and not in Oslo for peace negotiations, as they hardly let go of each other’s hand. The couple even cried as they shared a tight embrace with Sison at the lobby.

Then there was Fidel Agcaoili, who was then NDFP Peace Panel member, who gamely played host to his 40-or-so comrades, many of whom had just been freed from detention centers in the Philippines and had gone straight to Oslo on the strength of President Duterte’s order to release all those that the NDFP would name as its consultants.

Then there was another NDFP consultant Randy Malayao, who earnestly recorded the events on his iPad, while welcoming the other consultants coming in from 20-hour flights from the Philippines.

Obviously possessing a newfound sense of freedom, Malayao—who was accused of being involved in the killing of former Cagayan governor and then congressman Rodolfo Aguinaldo—had even been accommodating to media, introducing each of the New People’s Army (NPA) commanders, who were tapped as NDFP consultants, as they entered Holmenkollen Hotel.

After a few minutes, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, GRP Peace Panel chairman Silvestre Bello III and panel member Hernani Braganza arrived to join the NDFP in that reunion at the lobby.

This meeting caught the media group, which had come to cover the first round of talks (ABS CBN’s Danny Buenafe, GMA 7’s Raffy Tima, TV5’s Romel Lopez, PTV 4’s George Bandiola, Rappler’s Carmela Fonbuena, and Kodao Production’s Raymon Villannueva) by surprise.

For instead of stoic, antagonistic stares, there was respect, enthusiasm, and warmth all around. I could even swear there was a roar of greetings around the place.

It reminded me of that vicious Irish charge in the movie Braveheart, when a brutal confrontation with the Scots under William Wallace looked inevitable, until both sides met in the middle of the meadows of Falikirik only to break out into a wild cry while hugging each other in a show of unity.

And while Wallace and company might have been defiant of English invaders, the Filipino negotiators looked like they were one in fighting the rigors and challenges of what had been an elusive quest for peace.

Buenafe, the veteran ABS CBN bureau chief for Europe and Middle East who has been covering these talks since the ’90s, noted that there was not much of a friction as he had observed in past negotiations.

Tima noted that it was perhaps Duterte’s own enthusiasm over the resumption of the peace talks that set the light tone.

The first round went on without a hitch, setting the stage for further negotiations.

But in the succeeding rounds that included a return to Oslo in October, a trip to Rome, Italy for the third round to escape the cold weather of Norway, and two more highly volatile meetings in The Netherlands, the negotiations were rendered more complicated as the nitty-gritty of the Leftists’ demands was discussed.

And it didn’t help that the NPA renewed attacks just as the two panels were meeting in Rome. That led to the end of ceasefires unilaterally declared by both sides six months earlier, and sparked a series of violent confrontations between the forces of the government and the Communists that all but doomed the talks.

Since then, there have been efforts to rescue the talks, the latest of which was on July 20 when a GRP team was already at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) departure area, their bags at the check-in counter and ready to depart for The Netherlands for back channel talks with the NDFP, until a call came from Malacañang ordering them to abandon the talks.

The order was spawned by an NPA attack on a convoy of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) in Arakan, North Cotabato a day before, an assault that might have all but snuffed out any remaining patience that Duterte might have had for the Communists.

A few weeks later, Braganza celebrated his birthday at a Quezon City joint. Agcaoili was there. At that time, word was already out that the NDFP consultants, who were given safe passage by the government because of the talks, could be re-arrested at any time, and no one could blame him for feeling so uneasy.

After all, while there was no pending charge against him, Agcaoili should have been the last NDFP personality to be at the party, considering that—well, he’s with the Communists—and that among Braganza’s well-wishers were top military and police brass.

But there was Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista, a consultant of the government panel on the urban poor, who came up to Agcaoili and assured him that for as long as he was in his city, he would not be arrested.

His apprehensions aside, Agcaoili joined our table. The media group covering the talks has since referred to itself as the “Humps and Bumps Media Group” in reference to the cliché that Dureza used in his speeches during the talks.

As the party heated up, Agcaoili didn’t need much prodding when the media guys asked him to join Braganza, former ’70s folk singer and now-GRP panel consultant Pancho Lara, and singer Cookie Chua on stage.

Lara and Chua sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” before Braganza and Agcaoili joined in, their arms already slung over each other’s shoulders like they were comrades rather than opponents who threw invectives at each other across the negotiation table in those word wars in Europe.

Mid-way in the song, Braganza and Agcaoili looked into each other’s eyes as they sang out loud, “Imagine all the people, living life in peace.”

The “Yoohoo” that followed was deafening.

It was then that our so-called Humps and Bumps Media Group realized that the story we had been following for a year might not yet be over.

There is still hope.

The other journalists,who have since joined us after the first round were Kaye Imson from TV5, PTV 4’s Ria Fernandez and SweedenVelado, Inquirer’s Karlos Manlupig, and Davao journalists Zea Correa Capistrano and Grace Udin.

 

http://newsbits.mb.com.ph/2017/09/03/covering-the-peace-talks/

Abu Sayyaf bandits kill soldier in Sulu attack

From GMA News Online (Sep 2): Abu Sayyaf bandits kill soldier in Sulu attack

Abu Sayyaf group members killed a soldier in an attack at a military detachment in Patikul, Sulu on Saturday afternoon.

An initial report identified the slain soldier as a certain Corporal Mukay, a member of the Army's 41st Infantry Battalion (IB).

The report said at least 15 Abu Sayyaf members attacked a detachment of the 41st IB in Barangay Latih at around 1:45 p.m.

The soldier's body had been brought to the Kampo Heneral Teodulfo Bautista Station Hospital in Jolo town.

Pursuit operations against the bandits have been launched by the military.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/624271/abu-sayyaf-bandits-kill-soldier-in-sulu-attack/story/

Police say another ISIS-inspired group retakes Maguindanao camp

From GMA News Online (Sep 2): Police say another ISIS-inspired group retakes Maguindanao camp

Another ISIS-inspired group based in Maguindanao has reclaimed their camp in Datu Salibo town, police said.

A report on 24 Oras on Saturday said that the Jamaatu al-Muhajireen wal Ansar, a faction of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), have retaken their camp in the town.

A video from the local police in Datu Salibo dated August 29 showed armed men firing their guns from the said camp.

On Friday night, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his fear of a spillover of the Marawi crisis in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

As martial law remains in effect in Mindanao... I was thinking that we could, you know, lift it earlier. But the way it looks, parang may spillover nasa sa ARMM eh," Duterte said in a speech during the 1th Founding Anniversary of the Eastern Mindanao Command held at the Naval Station Felix Apolinario in Davao City.

The local terror group is also a supporter of the Maute group that laid siege to Marawi City last May 23, which prompted Duterte's declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

The report said that the terror group was able to retake their camp in Datu Salibo despite the joint operations of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and government troops.

The MILF said that its fighters have been trying to repel the terror group's members since August 6.

The MILF said that at least 12 of its fighters have been killed since August 6. Its fighters, meanwhile, have killed at least 20 members of the BIFF faction.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/624279/police-say-another-isis-inspired-group-retakes-maguindanao-camp/story/

Kid warriors seen joining Maute ranks

From The Standard (Sep 3): Kid warriors seen joining Maute ranks

YOUNG recruits of the Maute group may be sent to reinforce enemy front lines in Marawi City, a military spokesman said Saturday—as troops continue to rid the besieged city of terrorists, at the same time that sources said Isnilon Hapilon, the anointed ‘emir’ of Islamic State-inspired groups, might have already fled to Basilan.

In a radio interview, Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said desperate conditions of the Maute group might force them to finally use child fighters against government forces to prolong the infighting in Marawi City.

“Before, they were not in the front lines but since they’re already in a desperate state, they may be forced to use these children,“ Padilla said in a radio dzBB interview.



Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla

Padilla said troops would still attempt to rescue the young Maute group recruits.

“We’re doing our best to rescue the child fighters … and save the hostages,” he said.

In related developments:

• Government troops started scouring towns round Marawi for possible Maute sympathizers, a day after President Rodrigo Duterte warned of a possible terrorist spillover from Marawi City.

“We are trying to validate all these reports...As far as the center of Buldon, we have not been able to monitor any such recruitment, but there are isolated areas here,” said Col. Jesus Sarsagat, 603rd Brigade commander.

Sarsagat said army intelligence units were closely monitoring parts of the town near the Cararao complex as it might serve as a route to Butig, hometown of the Maute family.

Blocking operations along the border of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao were already established even before news of a possible spillover surfaced, he said.

• Senator Ralph Recto on Saturday urged the government to help wounded soldiers in Marawi City by giving them a much bigger financial assistance and reward.

“If the injuries sustained by the wounded are so severe that they would require lifetime care and assisted living, then it is time to review if existing policies are enough to provide those,” Recto said.

Under existing rules, a soldier or a policeman permanently maimed during combat or operations, gets a one-time P250,000 financial aid. The senator wants this quadrupled to P1 million.

Recto called for the augmentation of the budget for the Comprehensive Social Benefits Program, which lists the aid to be extended to killed and wounded uniformed personnel, as it was based on an estimate of 681 personnel killed or wounded during the entire year.

He said: “The war in Marawi was not factored in. If guns need to be reloaded with ammo, the same is true for the funds of programs to help the wounded and the killed.

“The wounded are the other heroes of Marawi. They are casualties, too. They may not have paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep the peace, but their valor and courage are no less fierce.”

Padilla said the soldiers would be forced to retaliate and defend themselves if Maute child fighters would take up arms and fire at troops.

The military had earlier said they had cornered the Maute group in a 500-square-meter area in Marawi City, with terrorists’ leaders Abdullah and Omar Maute believed to be still in the area.

Government sources said another terrorist leader, Hapilon, remained alive but was no longer in Marawi after he had been seen in Basilan openly as the infighting reached more than a hundred days.

“There has been a rift going on, he’s being baited [to authorities],” sources said, adding there had been demoralization among terrorists ranks.

The military, however, has yet to officially confirm the information on Hapilon’s whereabouts.

An operation against Hapilon in Marawi City led to the Maute group’s siege last May 23, which prompted President Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

Earlier, Duterte said it was unlikely to lift martial law in Mindanao before the end of 2017 because of a possible spillover of violence brought about by the fighting in Marawi City to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Recto said the number of wounded servicemen in Marawi had exceeded the 1,000 mark by now.

The military does not provide a running tally of troops wounded since extremists overran the city on May 23.

But when officials of Armed Forces of the Philippines met with senators on the Marawi crisis prior to the special session of Congress last July 22 to tackle the extension of the state of martial law in Mindanao, the number of wounded government troops had reached 845 by then, Recto said.

“That was the reported figure as of July 17. At that time, the report was 823 AFP personnel wounded plus 22 from the police. That was the figure 47 days ago,” Recto said.

Unlike killed in action, the total to date of which is mentioned in every report, military battlefield reports do not carry a running total of wounded-in-action.

By Aug. 31, the number of soldiers killed had climbed to 136, the latest three wounded in the retaking of a strategic bridge that leads to the city.

Thursday’s push also wounded 54 troops, according to media reports that quoted military spokesmen.

Recto said he was not questioning what appears to be a policy to embargo information on total number of wounded.

“The people deserve the right to salute their heroes,” Recto said.

He said stories of wounded personnel reporting to the front with injuries not yet completely healed depicted men who are heroes.

He said the budget of the AFP Medical Center, pegged at P1.613 billion for 2018, should be increased to accommodate the needs of wounded servicemen.

http://thestandard.com.ph/news/top-stories/246050/kid-warriors-seen-joining-maute-ranks.html

26-year-old alleged Maute-ISIS member brought to Manila to face raps

From GMA News Online (Sep 4): 26-year-old alleged Maute-ISIS member brought to Manila to face raps

An alleged member of the ISIS-linked Maute group captured last week in Marantao, Lanao del Sur was finally brought to Manila to face charges.

Nassif Hadji Hassan Datumanong, 26, was nabbed by police and military as the conflict between government forces and the Maute-ISIS group reached its fourth month, according to Ian Cruz'e report on Unang Balita on Monday.

Datumanong will face charges of rebellion.

Fifty-eight suspected Maute recruits and their recruiter Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) member Nur Supian were cleared of similar charges by the Department of Justice on Friday as no probable cause was found to forward the case.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/624376/26-year-old-alleged-maute-isis-member-brought-to-manila-to-face-raps/story/

ISIS retakes key camp near Marawi: 50 Philippine soldiers killed

From AMN (Sep 3): ISIS retakes key camp near Marawi: 50 Philippine soldiers killed



Another jihadist group based on the predominately Muslim Mindanao island has joined the insurgency against the Philippine Army after capturing a long-contested military installation at the town of Datu Salibo.

According to an official police report, the ISIS-linked ‘Jamaatu Al-Muhajireen Wal Ansar’ retook their training camp in the aforementioned town on August 29.

The group is notably considered a close ally of Maute and Abu Sayyaf, two ISIS factions which have been leading a jihadist uprising in the nearby city of Marawi since May 23. This in turn prompted Duterte’s declaration of martial law in the Mindanao region.

In the same time, the Philippine Army and its newly established ally, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), are making steady progress inside Marawi city itself.

On Friday morning, pro-government forces officially recaptured the Bayabao bridge, one of three bridges leading to the city centre of Marawi.

According to government officials, three Philippine Marines were killed-in-action and 52 wounded during the battle for the bridge.

On the other hand, Amaq Agency (main ISIS media branch) claimed that some 50 Philipines troops were killed during clashes at Marinot, Bangalo, Raya Madia, Osmania street and the Bayabao bridge on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a MILF commander said that their fighters were preparing to launch a renewed assault on the newly captured ISIS camp in Datu Salibo town. He added that skirmishes began on August 26, resulting in the death of 12 MILF troops and 20 ISIS members since then.

Not long ago, ISIS released its first lengthy propaganda video covering the battle for Marawi in which the self-proclaimed caliphate claimed 335 Philippine soldiers had been killed since the jihadist rebellion began over three months ago.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/isis-retakes-key-camp-near-marawi-50-philippine-soldiers-killed/

Search of Maguindanao town yields no terrorists

From the Philippine Star (Sep 3): Search of Maguindanao town yields no terrorists

A search of the forested boundary of Buldon, Maguindanao and Mount Cararao near Lanao del Sur found no militants in the area. John Unson

Authorities searched for Islamic militants along the boundary of Buldon town and Mount Cararao for 18 hours but found none.

The Buldon municipal police launched the search on Saturday after President Rodrigo Duterte announced in Davao City the possible spread of the conflict in Marawi City into the municipality due to the presence there of Maute terrorists.

 

"I was thinking that we could, you know, lift [the martial law in Mindanao] earlier but the way it looks, parang may spillover na sa ARMM eh, sa Buldon," he said last Friday before the Eastern Mindanao Command in Panacan, Davao City.

Iranun communities in Buldon, a hinterland town in the first district of Maguindanao, senior police and Army officials in the province told reporters on Sunday that they were surprised by Duterte’s pronouncement.

They urged the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team and the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to help them prove there is not even a single Maute terrorist in the municipality.

The Malaysian-led peace-keeping contingent, comprised of soldiers from Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia and non-uniformed conflict resolution experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union, has been helping oversee since 2004 the enforcement of an interim ceasefire accord between the MILF and Malacañang.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu told reporters on Sunday that he has tapped the Islamic religious sector in Buldon to help prove to the president that there are no Islamic State-inspired militants in the area.

'Mayor in full control of municipality'

 He said the mayor of Buldon, Abolais Manalao, is in full control of the municipality.

“We respect and we do not begrudge President Duterte for having announced there are sightings of militants in Buldon. We take that pronouncement as a reminder for us to help him address terrorism and violent religious extremism in Mindanao,” Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu is chairman of the inter-agency provincial peace and order council, whose members include the 36-member league of mayors in Maguindanao.

The Army’s 6th Infantry Division announced on Saturday over radio stations in Cotabato City that there is no confirmed presence of any group in Buldon operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

 

Members of the Buldon municipal peace and order council said it is impossible for them not to detect the presence of any militant group now that all “rido” (clan wars) in the town have been settled.

“All clans hostile to each other before are now cooperating in maintaining law and order in the municipality,” said Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The main headquarters of PRO-ARMM is in Camp Salipada K. Pendatun, less than 20 kilometers away from the town proper of Buldon.

Local MILF commanders told reporters on Sunday that there are Maute gunmen on high ground in Mount Cararao, but none in Buldon.

 

Mount Cararao is closer to Butig town in Lanao del Sur, where the Maute terror group first emerged in 2014.

No military reports of Maute militants in Buldon

Hundreds of Iranun villagers in Buldon, led by barangay captains, helped in Saturday’s search by the local police for militants at the border of Buldon and Mount Cararao but found none.

Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, said personnel of the Buldon municipal police will conduct periodic searches in the area to prevent any incursion by Maute terrorists.

Maj. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the 37th Infantry Battalion, which covers all of the barangays in Buldon, has not reported anything about sightings of terrorists in the municipality.

 

On December 8 last year, MILF rebels led by Command Quiqada killed five Maute gunmen and wounded more than a dozen others for trying to bring into Buldon militants wounded in clashes with pursuing soldiers in Butig.

Butig, located in the first district of Lanao del Sur, is hometown of the siblings Omar and Abdullah Maute, founders of the Maute terror group.

 

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/09/03/1735421/search-maguindanao-town-yields-no-terrorists

Gov’t seeks Congress nod on additional AFP funding

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Sep 4): Gov’t seeks Congress nod on additional AFP funding

The Duterte administration will be asking Congress to allocate additional funding this year to allow the Department of National Defense to replenish the supplies of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that have been expended in the course of the battle in the southern Islamic city of Marawi now on its fourth month.

In a press briefing, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the supplementary budget request that would soon be sent to the House of Representatives would include a provision for the hiring and training of an additional 20,000 soldiers.

“So far, the AFP has had enough funds to replenish their supplies, so that hasn’t really been a problem,” said the finance chief, who is also the head of the administration’s economic team. “The big problem is going to be rebuilding the number of soldiers that we need to expand the military.”

“The number that we heard is something like 20,000 new soldiers,” Dominguez told reporters.

The AFP has an estimated 172,000 active personnel divided among the Army, Navy and Air Force. A 20,000 increase in its headcount will raise its manpower complement by almost 12 percent.

Dominguez said he was waiting for a report from Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on how much the armed forces would need to replenish munitions, equipment and fuel, among others, that have been expended in the long-running siege of Marawi.

At the same time, however, the finance chief downplayed the fiscal impact of the war on the broader fiscal picture of the country.

“With regard to tax collections [in Marawi], obviously there’s a conflict and [tax] collections there would be zero,” he said. “But quite frankly, they don’t contribute a lot to the national tax collection numbers anyway.”

“The big thing is the expense on what we are spending there, and actually in the Ledac meeting last Tuesday we discussed the possibility of bringing to Congress a special bill for additional money,” he said, referring to the Legislative Executive Development and Advisory Council. “Congress said they will look at it, but we did not have the exact figures and [Budget] Secretary Benjamin Diokno and I spoke to Secretary Lorenzana to make sure that he comes up with the estimates as soon as possible.”

Regardless of the amount that the DND will request from Congress, Dominguez assured the public that the government could shoulder the fiscal cost of the Marawi conflict, including the funding necessary to rebuild the bombed out infrastructure of Marawi once the conflict ends.

http://business.inquirer.net/236240/govt-seeks-congress-nod-additional-afp-funding

Philippines strengthens procurement and offset mechanisms

From IHS Jane's 360 (Sep 3): Philippines strengthens procurement and offset mechanisms

The Philippines Department of National Defense (DND) has signed an agreement with a domestic trading group to strengthen procurement and related defence offset procedures, the government announced on 2 September.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA) calls on the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) – an agency under the Department of Information and Communications Technology – to "provide assistance" to the DND and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in undertaking defence procurement programmes, a government statement confirmed.

The accord also enables PITC to "represent" the DND and AFP in defence procurement, and associated countertrade and defence offset programmes.

(Subscription required to view full article)

http://www.janes.com/article/73514/philippines-strengthens-procurement-and-offset-mechanisms

He Aimed to Fight in Syria. ISIS Had a Broader Plan: Southeast Asia

From the New York Times (Sep 3): He Aimed to Fight in Syria. ISIS Had a Broader Plan: Southeast Asia



Yoki Pratama Windyarto celebrated his graduation from the Indonesia Aviation School in September 2016. Credit Family of Yoki Pratama Windyarto 

The quiet young Indonesian aircraft mechanic dashed out of his relatives’ home in a hurry in February and disappeared. The next time his anxious family would get word of him would be three months later, on the television news.

The authorities announced that the man, Yoki Pratama Windyarto, 21, was one of seven Indonesians who had joined the Islamic State and gone to the Philippines to fight on the island of Mindanao.

His family had not even known that he had a passport.

And then another shock: Weeks later, his mother, Sri Eny Windarti, received an anonymous call saying that her son had been martyred, and got a text message with a picture of him lying dead on the battlefield, a pool of blood under his head.

“What caused him to go there is a big question for us,” she said. “We have no idea what happened to him.”

Mr. Windyarto was one of about 30 foreign fighters recruited by Islamic State operatives to join the battle against the Philippines government in the city of Marawi, officials say. That fight, which has raged for months, has become the most intense military campaign that the Islamic State has supported outside Syria and Iraq.

The militants fighting in Marawi opposed the government long before they announced loyalty to the Islamic State, known as ISIS or ISIL. But in addition to the propaganda value of linking themselves to the militant group, recent evidence suggests that they have received financing and other assistance from the Islamic State command.



The Philippines Air Force attacking militant positions in Marawi in July. Credit Ted Aljibe/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Among those helping to recruit foreign fighters have been Indonesians who went to Syria, joined the Islamic State and rose to leadership positions, said Sidney Jones, the director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, a research organization in Jakarta. Another who has taken a leading role in recruitment for the group is a former law lecturer from Malaysia who is part of the inner circle of militant leaders in Marawi, the authorities say.

Once Mr. Windyarto arrived in the Philippines, he was told to recruit his jihadi friends to come to Mindanao for a “big party” in May.

“The Marawi operations received direct funding from ISIS central and reveal a chain of command that runs from Syria through the Philippines to Indonesia and beyond,” said a recent report by the institute.

The siege of Marawi began in May, when Philippine troops tried to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, the Islamic State leader in Southeast Asia, and stumbled upon hundreds of militants massing for an assault.

In Manila, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said that most of the foreign fighters had come from neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia. Fighters from Arab countries and Bangladesh are believed to be among them, he said, but their sightings are unconfirmed.

“There have been a number of foreign fighters who made their way here under the guise of humanitarian workers,” he said. “Some come through the back door. It’s a very porous border.”

Indonesian Islamists, in particular, have long had ties to Mindanao. In the 1990s, they received military training at a camp near Marawi. In the 2000s, Mindanao became a transit point for Indonesians returning from fighting in Afghanistan and a sanctuary for others wanted in a string of terrorist bombings in Indonesia.



Philippine soldiers with a captured Islamic State flag in Marawi in May. Credit Jes Aznar/Getty Images

“Marawi is not strange for Indonesian jihadis,” said Ansyaad Mbai, the former head of Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency. “All Indonesian jihadis are familiar with this place.”

A leader of today’s Marawi militants, Omarkhayam Maute, is married to an Indonesian, Minhati Madrais, whose father is a conservative cleric. The couple met while studying in Egypt. For a time, Mr. Maute taught his radical views at his father-in-law’s Islamic school in the city of Bekasi, east of Jakarta.

Today, the most prominent foreigner among the militants in the Philippines is Mahmud Ahmad, a Malaysian and onetime Islamic law lecturer who fled to Mindanao in 2014.

A seized video of a strategy meeting before the battle shows him in the militants’ inner circle with Mr. Hapilon, Mr. Maute and Mr. Maute’s brother Abdullah, a fellow leader of the Maute Group. The former lecturer is known among the militants there as Dr. Mahmud.

“Dr. Mahmud appears to be senior to anyone operating in Indonesia, meaning whatever the intergroup frictions, all recognize a chain of command within the ISIS hierarchy that they are obliged to obey by virtue of their oath,” the report says.

Among those Mr. Mahmud helped bring to Marawi was Mr. Windyarto.

The young aircraft mechanic grew up in a mostly Muslim neighborhood in the central Java town of Purworejo Klampok, a tolerant community about 250 miles east of Jakarta. The family is doing well by local standards: His mother is an English teacher, his father a town official.

A few years ago, Mr. Windyarto was accepted into a university. But his parents said the cost was too high and sent him to the Indonesia Aviation School, a strict boarding school in the city of Tangerang, west of Jakarta.



Philippine security forces transporting militants in Marawi in June. An estimated 600 militants, including foreign fighters, captured the city in May. The government says only a few dozen remain. Credit Jes Aznar/Getty Images

He began studying aviation maintenance there in 2013. At first he was despondent. His head was shaved and he was not allowed to leave or talk to anyone by phone for three months. He graduated in September of last year, shortly before his 21st birthday, and moved in with his uncle while waiting to start a job as a trainee at Garuda Indonesia, the state airline.

Mr. Windyarto had always been devout. And during his stay in Bekasi he expressed conservative religious views to some family members, including the idea that women should not work outside the home.

But in interviews, more than a dozen relatives said they had not realized that he had embraced a radical ideology. He never spoke about the Islamic State or Syria, they said, speculating that he had been recruited online.

But Ms. Jones, a leading expert on terrorism in Southeast Asia, said evidence indicated that he had been recruited by Islamists in person after he was allowed to leave campus.

By 2015, he had joined a little-known Islamist network called Al Hawariyun, or “The Helpers,” and took part in military training outside Jakarta, according to her institute’s report.

The network’s first leader, the cleric Ustadz Nanang Ainur Rafiq, went to Syria in 2015 and was killed last year fighting Kurdish forces. The next leader, Abu Nusaibah, was arrested in November with eight followers on charges that they were plotting to set off a riot at a huge election protest against the governor of Jakarta.

Soon after, Mr. Windyarto began making plans to go to Syria along with another member, Anggara Suprayogi, whose wife worked as a maid in Hong Kong and was part of a radical cell of domestic workers there, Ms. Jones said.



Marawi, once the Philippines’ largest Muslim-majority city, has been destroyed by the battle against Islamic State loyalists. Credit Jes Aznar/Getty Images

More than 500 Indonesians have joined the Islamic State in Syria, including families with children, Ms. Jones said. About 100 fighters have been killed in combat or by airstrikes; others have risen within the Islamic State’s ranks.

But when the two militants contacted Indonesian operatives with the Islamic State in Syria, they were urged to go to Mindanao instead and told to contact Mr. Mahmud, the report says. He agreed to help and directed a member of a rival Islamist group in Central Java to organize their travel.

In mid-December, even before starting his job with Garuda, Mr. Windyarto quietly got a passport.

Mr. Windyarto was briefly ill in mid-February, and his mother went to Bekasi to care for him. Even then, she said, he gave no hint of his plan to leave.

But after she left, he emptied his bank account, dropped out of the family WhatsApp messaging group and sold his motorbike and laptop, she said. Then, on Feb. 27, he made a quick visit to the house in Bekasi when only his aunt was home, retrieving a flash data drive before rushing off. He never spoke with a family member again.

On March 20, his parents, suspecting that he might have run off to join militants, filed a missing person’s report and asked the police to block him from leaving the country.

Even so, they said they were shocked on May 31, when the Indonesian police announced on national television that their son and six other Indonesians were wanted for involvement in Islamic State terrorism in Marawi.

The phone call that Ms. Windarti dreaded came on June 20. A man speaking English told her that her son had become a “shahid” — a martyr.

He texted her the picture of her son’s body lying on the ground.

Family members cling to the hope that he may somehow be alive, perhaps having faked his death to escape. But there have been few answers.

“If we use our normal logic, it doesn’t make sense,” said his uncle, Anto Kuswanto, in Bekasi. “We educated him to be a good guy. He had never even been in an airplane.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/world/asia/isis-fighters-philippines-indonesia.html

Philippine Army Says Taking Fire From Women, Children in Marawi Battle

From the US News & World Report (Sep 4): Philippine Army Says Taking Fire From Women, Children in Marawi Battle



Philippine troops fighting Islamic State-linked rebels in a southern city have encountered armed resistance from women and children, the military said on Monday, as troops make a final push to end a conflict that has raged for more than 100 days.

Ground forces were braced for higher casualties amid fierce fighting in Marawi City on the island of Mindanao, where the field of battle has shrank to a small area in a commercial heart infested with snipers, and littered with booby traps.

“We are now in the final phase of our operations and we are expecting more intense and bloody fighting. We may suffer heavier casualties as the enemy becomes more desperate,” Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez, who heads the military in Western Mindanao, told reporters.

He said the number of fighters was diminishing and a small number of women and children, most likely family members of the rebels, were now engaged in combat.

“Our troops in the field are seeing women and children shooting at our troops so that’s why it seems they are not running out of fighters.”

More than 800 people have been killed in the battle, most of them insurgents, since May 23 when the militants occupied large parts of the predominantly Muslim town.

The battle is the biggest security challenge in years for the mostly Catholic Philippines, even though it has a long history of Muslim separatist rebellion in Mindanao, an island of 22 million people that has been placed under martial law until the end of the year.

The protracted clashes and resilience of the rebels has fanned fears that Philippine groups loyal to Islamic State, and with ties to Indonesian and Malaysian militants, have formed an alliance that is well-organized, funded and armed, and serious about carving out its own territory in Mindanao.

Citing information provided by four hostages who had escaped from the rebels, Galvez said there were some 56 Christian hostages - most of them women - and about 80 male residents may have been forced to take up arms and fight the military.

The fighting was concentrated in an area around a mosque about a quarter of a square kilometer. He said soldiers were taking control of an average 35 buildings a day and at that rate, it could be three weeks before the city was under government control.

AIR STRIKES

Smoke billows from a burning building as government troops continue their assault on its 105th day of clearing operations against pro-IS militants who have seized control of large parts of Marawi city, southern Philippines September 4, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Fighting in Marawi was intense on Monday, with heavy gunfire and explosions ringing out across the picturesque, lakeside town, the heart of which has been devastated by near-daily government air strikes.

Helicopters circled above to provide air cover for ground troops as fighting raged, with bursts of smoke rising above the skyline as bombs landed on rebel positions.

Galvez said intelligence showed the rebels’ military commander, Abdullah Maute, may have been killed last month in an air strike.

Postings on Facebook and chatter over the past two days on Telegram, a messaging application used by Islamic State and its sympathizers, had carried tributes to Abdullah, referring to him by one of his pseudonyms, he said.

“There is no 100 percent confirmation until we see his cadaver but this is enough to presume he died already,” he said.

The military has contradictory statements about the status of the rebel leaders over the past few months.

Abdullah Maute and brother Omarkhayam are the Middle East-educated leaders of a militant clan known as the Maute group that has gained notoriety in the past two years due to its ability to engage the army for long periods.

Under the name Dawla Islamiya, the Maute group has formed an alliance with Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of a pro-Islamic State faction of another group, Abu Sayyaf.

Galvez said the army’s intelligence indicated both Omarkhayam and Hapilon, Islamic State’s anointed “emir” in Southeast Asia, were still in the Marawi battle.

For a graphic on how main Islamic militant groups in Mindanao evolved, click: here

For a graphic on Islamic militant strongholds in Mindanao, click: here

For a graphic on deaths in Marawi, click: here

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-militants/philippine-army-says-taking-fire-from-women-children-in-marawi-battle-idUSKCN1BF0NY

Sabah security forces on alert for Abu Sayyaf militants attempting to enter state

From The Straits Times (Sep 3): Sabah security forces on alert for Abu Sayyaf militants attempting to enter state



Suspected Abu Sayyaf member Abu Asrie (extreme left) was one of eight men who were arrested in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 30. PHOTO: THE STAR

Security forces in Sabah are closely monitoring for Abu Sayyaf militants trying to enter the state.

They are also checking whether any of the militants are already in Sabah, following the arrest of eight suspected Abu Sayyaf members in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 30.

Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) Commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali said there had been no threats or reports of Abu Sayyaf militants entering the state so far.

"But we are being vigilant and are constantly monitoring the situation," he said.

He said the eight individuals arrested were members of a group that managed to escape in 2015, before the conflict in Marawi in the southern Philippines as well as the military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf there.

Asked whether Esscom suspected that the militants could be living among Sabahans, especially in the east coast settlements or squatter areas, Hazani said there was no information on that.

"However, it doesn't mean we are not checking. We do not have information on them being here with the communities but we are keeping a close watch," he told The Star.

The eight, including Abu Sayaff leader Hajar Abdul Mubin, were arrested in an operation on Aug 30.

Hajar, also known as Abu Asrie, was arrested with another Filipino, Abraham Embung, 29, and six Malaysians of Filipino descent from Sabah.

The 25-year-old Abu Asrie is believed to be a member of the Jolo-based Lucky 9 kidnap-for-ransom group with links to the Abu Sayyaf group based in jungles of Jolo and Basilan islands in southern Philippines.

According to sources, the Malaysians, who are believed to be from Sandakan and working in Kuala Lumpur, were aged between 20 and 52.

Some of the suspects were security guards and were even members of the Civil Defence Corp or Rela, the sources said.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/sabah-security-forces-on-alert-of-abu-sayyaf-entering

Family ties luring militants to Malaysia: Intelligence sources

From The Straits Times (Sep 3): Family ties luring militants to Malaysia: Intelligence sources

Family ties are luring Filipino militants and criminals to seek refuge in Malaysia, particularly in Sabah, said intelligence sources.

The sources who have been following the militants issue closely said these fugitives flee towards Sabah to stay safe from Philippines authorities and also rival groups bent on revenge against them.

The refugees are said to be related to southern Filipino families of Bajau and Suluk descent who have long settled here.

Many of the refugees and later, Filipino migrants who have become naturalised Malaysians, are said to have started to move out of Sabah to seek work in peninsular Malaysia.

These migrant group have over the past decade moved in larger numbers to Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur to seek better work prospects, added the sources.

However, these militants or criminal elements running away are joining up with families in Malaysia.

It is not known if the local families are aware of their background but they help them get jobs as labourers in the construction and plantation sectors.

Without good intelligence, these fugitives can remain undetected in Sabah, the sources said.

They explained that they were unlikely to be involved in any activities that could draw attention.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/family-ties-luring-militants-to-malaysia-intelligence-sources

Abu Sayyaf operative arrested in Malaysia – military

From Rappler (Sep 4): Abu Sayyaf operative arrested in Malaysia – military

Hajar Abdul Mubin is allegedly the right-hand man of Furuji Indama, the notorious leader of the Abu Sayyaf faction in Basilan



The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Sunday, September 3, said the right-hand man of an Abu Sayyaf senior leader was among two Filipinos arrested in Kuala Lumpur over alleged "involvement in terrorist activities" in the Malaysian capital.

Hajar Abdul Mubin or Abu Asrie was arrested by the Royal Malaysian Police along with 6 Malaysians at Taman Desa Baiduri in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur last August.

AFP Public Affairs Office chief Colonel Edgard Arevalo said Abu Asrie is the chief lieutenant of Furuji Indama, the notorious leader of the Abu Sayyaf faction in Basilan.

On August 21, an Abu Sayyaf faction believed to be under Indama attacked a village in Maluso, Basilan, leaving 9 civilians dead and 10 others wounded. (READ: 9 civilians killed in Abu Sayyaf rampage in Basilan)

The second Filipino arrested was identified as Abraham Bin Ebong. His links, however, are still being determined.

"The arrest and detention of these individuals is a significant development in the government's security cooperation with Malaysia and other neighboring countries in Asia to curb terrorism including attempts to recruit new members or entice individuals to support terrorism or violent extremism," Arevalo said.

The suspects will be facing charges in Malaysia, he added.

 

https://www.rappler.com/nation/181009-abu-sayyaf-hajar-abdul-mubin-arrested-malaysia

8 Abu Sayyaf militants captured in Kuala Lumpur

From The Straits Times (Sep 3): 8 Abu Sayyaf militants captured in Kuala Lumpur



Armed and dangerous: Abu Asrie (left) in an undated picture taken on the Basilan Island in southern Philippines. The others in the photo are believed to be gunmen in the Philippines. PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Eight suspected Abu Sayyaf terror group militants - Malaysians and Filipinos - have been captured in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian police arrested the southern Philippine-based militants including one of the Abu Sayaff leaders, Hajar Abdul Mubin, in an operation in Cheras on the eve of Malaysia's National Day on Aug 30.

Hajar, also known as Abu Asrie, was arrested with another Filipino, Abraham Embung, 29, and six Malaysians of Filipino descent from Sabah.

The 25-year-old Abu Asrie is believed to be a member of the Jolo-based Lucky 9 kidnap-for-ransom group with links to the Abu Sayyaf group based in jungles of Jolo and Basilan islands in southern Philippines.

The Malaysians, who are believed to be from Sandakan and working in Kuala Lumpur, were aged between 20 and 52.

Some of the suspects were security guards and were even members of the Civil Defence Corp or Rela, the sources said.

According to Philippines intelligence sources, the Lucky 9 gang was involved in kidnap for ransom activities in Jolo town.

They were known to kidnap victims for ransom payments of 10,000 pesos (S$265). Some members of the group have links with the Abu Sayyaf gunmen currently on the run in Jolo following a full scale war by Philippines security forces against the group responsible for numerous cross border kidnappings in east coast Sabah.

According to some sources, Abu Asrie was based in Basilan and had slipped into Malaysia in 2015 after meeting with Malaysian Islamic State militants Dr Mahmud Ahmad, Mohd Najib Hussein and Muhammad Joraimee in Basilan.

Dr Mahmud and several other Abu Sayyaf leaders, including Insalon Hapilon, were in the forefront with the Maute group in the attack on Marawi city in Mindanao.

The Marawi city attack was seen as a new front of the Islamic State militants' attempt to set up a caliphate in South-east Asia.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/8-abu-sayyaf-militants-captured-in-kuala-lumpur

Malaysian police arrest suspected Abu Sayyaf leader, seven others

From Reuters (Sep 3): Malaysian police arrest suspected Abu Sayyaf leader, seven others

Malaysian police arrested a suspected leader and seven members of the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist group in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, a police source said on Sunday.

Police detained Hajar Abdul Mubin - otherwise known as Abu Asrie - in the Wednesday raid, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak to the media on the case.

Hajar, a Filipino, was arrested along with one other Filipino and six Malaysians from the Borneo state of Sabah, which shares a porous maritime border with the Philippines.

The arrests were first reported by the English daily, The Star.

The Abu Sayyaf is notorious for bombings, beheadings, extortion and kidnap-for-ransom in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines.

The arrests were the latest in an ongoing crackdown on militancy by Muslim-majority Malaysia.

More than 250 people have been arrested between 2013 and 2016 for suspected militancy linked to Islamic State.

Governments in Southeast Asia have been worried over the possible expansion of Islamic State in the region as battle-hardened militants return home after the collapse of their self-styled caliphate in the Middle East.

Militants loyal to Islamic State seized large parts of Marawi city in the southern Philippines in May. Some 620 militants, 136 soldiers and police and 45 civilians were killed in more than 100 days of fighting.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-arrests/malaysian-police-arrest-suspected-abu-sayyaf-leader-seven-others-idUSKCN1BE0ES

NPA local unit in Ilocos Sur using child warriors–Army

From the Business Mirror (Sep 4): NPA local unit in Ilocos Sur using child warriors–Army

Soldiers deployed in the province of Ilocos Sur have accused the New People’s Army (NPA), particularly its local unit, of employing child warriors as corroborated by former rebels who have surrendered to the government.

Members of the Army’s 81st Infantry Battalion (IB) based in Ilocos Sur made the claims against the NPA’s Platun South Ilocos Sur (SIS), which operates in the Ilocos provinces and in Abra and nearby provinces.

On July 22 members of the 81st IB encountered at least 12 rebels from the SIS at Barangay Sorioan, Salcedo, Ilocos Sur, triggering 30 minutes of firefight.

During the clash, the soldiers recovered 20 rounds of M-14 ammunition, homemade bombs, cleaning gears, rebel documents and other personal belongings.

The encounter was followed by another firefight on August 5 at Sitio Mabileg, Barangay San Elias, Sigay, Ilocos Sur, as the troops continuously pursued the rebels.

Lt. Col. Eugenio Julio Osias IV, commander of the 81st IB, said the successive operations have prompted some members of the local guerilla unit to surrender to the government.

“Through the continuous interviews and having established a good rapport with these surrenderees, they revealed that many members of their group [Platun SIS] include fighters 21 years old and below,” Osias said.

“These child warriors were newly recruited through ideological political organizational works, and they were used as members of the armed group that operates in the Triple S Complex of South Ilocos Sur [Santa Cruz, Santa Lucia and Salcedo],” Osias added.

Osias said they were withholding the names of the surrenderees for security reasons “pending the processing of their status”.

The use of child warriors by the SIS has reached Major Gen. Angelito de Leon, commander of the 7th Infantry Division, who called on the rebels to stop this practice.

“It is a violation to the law, RA [Republic Act] 7610, and the signed agreement, Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, that these rebels are recruiting child warriors/minors to join them in their armed struggle and allowing them to take part in gun battles,” he said. “We will further strengthen our intelligence and civil military operations so that these activities will stop,” he added.

On the other hand, Osias said they were already identifying the families of the reported child warriors to inform them about the status of their relatives.

“We are tracking the relatives of these minors so that their respective families will be made aware of their situation, and for these families to help the government in persuading their children to leave the armed struggle,” Osias said.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/npa-local-unit-in-ilocos-sur-using-child-warriors-army/