Southern Phillipines and Terrorism

Prof Dr Colonel (Retired) K Prabhakar Rao

The Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Republika ng Pilipinas; RP), is an island nation located in Southeast Asia, with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine Archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The country reflects diverse indigenous Austronesian cultures from its many islands, as well as European and American influence from Spain, Latin America and the United States. Filipinos are mostly of Austronesian descent. Filipino minorities include American, Spanish, Chinese, and Arab ancestry. A former Spanish and United States colony, the Philippines has many affinities with the Western world including Spain and Latin America due to three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, and Filipino and English are the official languages (1). Although these nations are small, strategically they are important due to the sea routes that cover many South East Asian nations and sea trade and naval movements of various countries.

Subsequent to attack 9/11, 2001 on WTC in New York by AlQaeda. USA went hunting down the terrorists around the world with a hammer. It has taken up operations against Abu Sayyaf Group and the Terrorist group Jemmah Islamiyah in and around Philippines apart from its major war against AlQaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan. It also took operations in Yemen, Somalia and Sudan on minor scale. Iraq war came later.

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) Al Harakat Al Islamiyya, is deemed a "foreign terrorist organization" by the United States government. Specifically, it is an Islamist separatist group based in and around the southern islands of the Republic of the Philippines, primarily Jolo, Basilan, and Mindanao. Since inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion in their fight for an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, with a claimed overarching goal of creation of a Pan-Islamic super state across the Malay portions of Southeast Asia, spanning from east to west, the large island of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago (Basilan and Jolo islands), the large island of Borneo (Malaysia, Indonesia), the South China Sea, and the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand)

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), is a militant Islamic terrorist organization dedicated to the establishment of a fundamentalist Islamic theocracy in Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, and the south of Thailand and the Philippines. Financial links between Jemaah Islamiyah and other terrorist groups, such as Abu Sayyaf and Al Qaeda, have been found to exist. Jemaah Islamiyah means "Islamic Group" or "Islamic Community" and is often abbreviated JI. Jemaah Islamiyah is thought to have killed hundreds of civilians and is suspected of having executed the Bali car bombing on October 12, 2002 in which suicide bombers killed 202 people, mostly Australian tourists, and wounded many in a nightclub. After this attack, the U.S. State Department designated Jemaah Islamiyah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Jemaah Islamiyah is also suspected of carrying out the Zamboanga bombings, the Metro Manila bombings, the 2004 Jakarta embassy bombing and the 2005 Bali terrorist bombing (2).

In January 2002, over 1,200 soldiers from the United States Special Operation Command Pacific (SOCPAC) were deployed in Philippines to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines in their push to uproot terrorists forces on the island of Basilan. Of those groups included are Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The operation consisted of training the Armed forces of Philippines (AFP) in counter-terrorist operations as well as a supporting the local people with humanitarian aid in Operation Smiles and Myanmar (Burma).

Thus in the first expansion of Washington’s war on terror beyond Afghanistan, more than 1,200 personnel provided training, equipment, intelligence and advice to help the Philippine military defeat the Muslim extremist group, which was responsible for a year-long series of kidnappings.
Admiral Thomas Fargo, chief of the US Pacific Command, said Abu Sayyaf, a guerrilla group believed to have links to Al-Qa’eda, was "in disarray and on the run, unable to find the money or the time to eat, rest and re supply".
Gen Roy Cimatu, the Philippine armed forces chief of staff, added: "The Abu Sayyaf group’s back bone has been broken”. The Americans operated under tight restrictions that only allowed them to shoot in self defense. Military engineers built roads and bridges and renovated an airfield. The Philippine military says its front-line troops are now better prepared to fight terrorism.

The Abu Sayyaf Group whose ranks once swelled above 800 or more operatives has been reduced to less then 100. The humanitarian portion of the operation, Operation Smiles, has created 14 schools, 7 clinics, 3 hospitals and provided medical care to over 18,000 residents of Basilan. Humanitarian groups were able to continue their work without fear of further kidnappings and terrorists attacks by the Abu Sayyaf Group. But hopes for an unblemished victory against Abu Sayyaf vanished in a bloody rescue attempt in June by Philippine soldiers that left two of the rebels’ last three hostages dead, including Martin Burnham, an American missionary.
Another shadow over the campaign was a helicopter crash that killed 10 American soldiers. This was the single largest loss of American lives in the six months (3).
Philippine commentators opined that most senior commanders of Abu Sayyaf remain free.

Officials say Jemaah Islamiyah allegedly planned to attack U.S. military personnel and naval vessels as well as the British High Commission, the Israeli Embassy and the Australian High Commission in Singapore.
A Philippine man police say provided the explosives for a plan to attack U.S., British, Australian and Israeli targets in Singapore has been arrested, the army said
Hussain Ramos, 35, was allegedly helping members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic extremist group that authorities say is linked to Al Qaeda. He was arrested in Marawi, in the southern Philippines; an army statement said.The statement said Ramos was implicated by Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, an Indonesian who told police he helped plan a series of almost simultaneous bombings that killed 22 people in Manila in 2000. He has been in custody. Al-Ghozi pleaded guilty to explosives possession after leading Philippine police to a ton of TNT that officials say was to be used for terrorist attacks in Singapore. The army statement said the explosives had been provided by Ramos, also known as Ali Ramos and Abu Ali. During interrogation, Ramos "admitted his participation in the procurement of boxes of explosives sometime during the operations.

Philippines Gunmen also abducted an Italian Roman Catholic priest in 2002 who was on his way to a remote village to celebrate Sunday Mass in the southern Philippines. Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobel, the provincial police chief Cristobel said he suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels who operate in Zamboanga Sibugay, despite a cease-fire agreement with the government. He did not elaborate, but said that Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, notorious for ransom kidnappings, are not known to be active in the area. Giancarlo Bossi, 57, the priest was riding his motorcycle in Zamboanga Sibugay province's Payao township; about 500 miles south of Manila, when about 10 armed men blocked his path then seized him. Col. Godofredo Paderanga of the local army division said ``lawless elements'' were responsible. He did not provide details, but in the past, authorities have blamed rogue members of the MILF, the largest Muslim separatist group in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, for kidnappings and extortion demands (4).

The training provided by Americans to the Philippine Army is paying dividends. In May 2005, seven members of the extremist group, the Abu Sayyaf, have been killed in a continuing gun battle in Sulu province in the southern Philippines.
U.S.-trained military troops have been conducting an anti-terrorism campaign in Mindanao, against the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist network. Third Marine Brigade Commander Juancho Sabban said some of the Abu Sayyaf bandits who were killed in the gun battle in Sulu province were involved in the kidnapping of foreigners and locals in Sipadan, Malaysia in 2000 (5).They felt happy that these criminals have been wiped out in good numbers.

Thus Philippines although a small island nation is a potential continuing threat for promotion Al Qaeda operations and the local Islamic terrorist outfits give cover for the Al Qaeda net work and can form a link in Pacific. They pose threat to naval vessels, both military and civilian trading ships. Thy spread terrorism in Malayan peninsular countries that are strategically important and these nations are militarily weak and underdeveloped. Therefore USA is taking special care in identifying the AlQaeda connections in these countries and making efforts to annihilate these outfits. The Philippine army trained by America is doing its best to eliminate these terrorist groups and have greatly succeeded. But they should not down the guard and the battle against these militant outfits have to be waged continuously for years and they have to be very alert to ensure that islands of Philippines do not become a haven for the criminals and AlQaeda inspired terrorists.

Bibliography

1. Philippines, Wikipedia, A free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillipines

2. User:Zer0faults/ Operation Enduring freedom, OEF Rework http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:zppfuXfy-tYJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Zer0faults/OEF_Rework

+Operations+of+Abu+sayyaf+of+Al+Qaeda+in+Phillipines&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=in

3. Dar al Harb – Philippines Italian Priest abducted, American Infidel at 6/10/2007 08:02:00 AM

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:vQe9OtwKciEJ:americaninfidelthinks.blogspot.com/search/label/

phillipines+South+phillipines+and+terrorism&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=in

4. US exercises may lead to regional base. http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:_d1vMG7J0mEJ:www.rcnetwork.net/Phillipines/

+Links+of+phillipines+to+international+terrorism&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=in

5.ABC Radio Australia, http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:BrsNhOZrVesJ:www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1368655.htm

+Operations+of+Abu+sayyaf+of+Al+Qaeda+in+Phillipines&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=in

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