THE US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism designated “Isis-Philippines” as a foreign terrorist organization, the third Philippine-based group declared as such after the Abu Sayyaf in 1997 and the Communist Party of the Philippines / New People’s Army in 2002.
But what constitutes “Isis-Philippines”? And is there an “Isis-Philippines”?
The US State Department’s list does not specify which groups constitute “Isis-Philippines” although the Abu Sayyaf, listed as FTO since 1997, as well as the Maute Group and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (Biff) are among the groups earlier referred to by the Philippine authorities as “Isis-inspired.”
But Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana says, “There is no Isis-Philippines.”
“The objective of the Marawi siege by the Maute Group and the Abu Sayyaf Group’s Hapilon as Emir or Amir was to create an Isis wilayat or province in southern Philippines as intended by the Isis but they failed. So there in no Isis wilayat and there is no Isis-Philippines,” Lorenzana said on Thursday.
“The term is more a reference by the US government to the remnants of Isis-inspired or affiliated groups which are still present in some parts of Mindanao. The US government may therefore be referring to groups or persons who have pledged or declared allegiance to the Isis, including the Maute Group, Biff-Turaife Gropu, AKP (Ansar al-Khilafah in the Philippines), any remnants of ASG-Hapilon and other Isis-inspired groups/persons still actively propagating the Isis extremist ideology,” Lorenzana said.
The US State Department defines FTOs as foreign organizations that engage in terrorist activity or terrorism or retains the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism; and threaten the security of United States nationals or the national security of the United States.
FTO designations, it said, “play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business.”
Abu Sayyaf’s Isnilon Hapilon, allegedly designated by the Isis as its “Emir” in Southeast Asia, was killed in Marawi along with Omar Maute of the Maute Group on Oct. 16, 2017.
In a statement on Wednesday “on the Maute Group in the US list of FTOs,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said, “The official designation of the Maute Group as an affiliate group of Isis and its inclusion in the US list of foreign terrorist organizations are positive developments in the campaign against terrorism.”
Roque said the listing of the Maute Group as an FTO “reaffirms our long-held belief that the Maute Group is composed of local terrorists aided by foreign extremists. This likewise recognizes the decisive action we have taken in liberating Marawi from these terrorists, which resulted in the success of the government in thwarting the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the area and the containing of the rebellion from spreading to other parts of the Philippines.”
“Terrorism, indeed, knows no borders and the inclusion of the Maute Group in the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations as an affiliate group of Isis shows the solidarity and resolve of the international community to flush out evil forces to make the world safe and secure,” Roque said.
Asked which groups the US State Department was referring to as “Isis-Philippines,” Roque said, “That’s Isis-Maute. I think it’s specific since Maute is known to be the local Isis.”
Lorenzana said the term may have been used by the US government to “groups or persons who have pledged or declared allegiance to the Isis.” (carolyn o. arguillas of mindanews)
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