Separatist Movements in Southern Philippines

[Merlin]

In S E Asis, similar to Thailand, Philippines also have Muslim separatist movements in the southern part of the country that belongs predominately to another religion, in this case Catholic.

Muslim rebels bomb bridge, attack village in southern Philippines

26 May [M&C] Manila - Muslim separatist rebels bombed a bridge and attacked a village in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes, an army spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels set off an improvised explosive device before dawn at Lintokan Bridge in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Ponce said the rebels then swooped down on the nearby village of Reina Regente, looting homes, local stores and farms before torching at least eight houses. ....

More than 27,000 residents have remained in evacuation centres in Maguindanao province after fleeing their homes amid fierce fighting between the MILF and the military last year, he said. ...

The MILF is the largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate Islamic state in the southern region of Mindanao.

Peace talks between the MILF and the Philippines government have been suspended since August 2008 after the rebels launched a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao, triggering fierce clashes with the military.

Nearly 300 people, many of whom were civilians, were killed and more than 500,000 residents fled their homes due to the rebel attacks and the subsequent fighting.

[Merlin]

In this matter, the US Stated Dept is helping to issue bounty awards, to three members of another rebel fighter groups, Abu Sayyaf, active in kidnapping foreigners.

US offers $2.5-M bounty for Abu Sayyaf

28 May [ManilaTimes] The US offered $2.5 million, or P113 million in reward in exchange for information that would lead to the capture of three top leaders of the Philippine-based terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, the American State Department’s Rewards for Justice announced Wednesday.

The State Department identified the wanted men as Radullan Sahiron, Abdul Basit Usman and Khair Mundos, supposedly the pillar and financier of the Abu Sayyaf. ...

Washington offered $1 million for the arrest of Sahiron, a key player in the May 2001 Dos Palmas abduction of three Americans and 17 Filipinos from a tourist resort in Palawan province. The kidnappers executed one of the Americans held hostage, Guillermo Sobero. ...

Mindanao in Southern Philippines is the base of operations of the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim separatist group that had turned to banditry and terrorism.

Another $1 million was offered for the capture of Basit, described by Kelley as a bomb-making expert with links to the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and is also believed to have orchestrated bombings starting 2003 that killed and maimed many innocent civilians. JI, like the Abu Sayyaf, is linked to al-Qaeda and operates from Southeast Asia. It is blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and other attacks in the region. ....

The US government offered over $500,000 for the arrest of Mundos, who was arrested in May 2004 on money-laundering charges spurred by a US-initiated investigation in cooperation with Philippine officials. Mundos confessed to having arranged the transfer of funds from al-Qaeda to former Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani to be used in bombings and other criminal acts across Mindanao. ...

Since its inception in 1984, the Rewards for Justice Program has paid more than $80 million to more than 50 persons for information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped the authorities in bringing criminals to justice. . ...

[Merlin]

The local opinion on this US offer is divided.

Philippine military welcomes U.S. reward offer to arrest extremists

MANILA, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine military Wednesday welcomed the United States' new reward offer to arrest three leaders of the extremist group of Abu Sayyaf, allegedly responsible for a series of kidnappings and deadly attacks on civilians in the Southeast Asian country. ...

Citing previous experience, Brawner said the military can get more information if reward money is offered against the wanted elements. ...

When announcing the offering of the reward, Kelly said the three Abu Sayyaf leaders are considered "threat to U.S. and Filipino citizens and interests" because of their terrorist acts and connection with U.S. Government-designated international terrorist organizations -- Al-Qaeda Network and the Jemaah Islamiyah. ...

Bounty for terrorists’ capture could cause more trouble - bishop

28 May [GMANews] MANILA, Philippines — Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad warned on Thursday that the reward money being offered for the capture of suspected Abu Sayyaf leaders could backfire on the community.

In an interview with Radyo Veritas, the prelate said the reward system has its own good points as it could lead to the capture of the suspects....,

On the other hand, he said “it will create more trouble because it might lead to a mistaken identity and others might suffer more." ...

Jumoad suggested that the reward money be given to nongovernmental organizations for programs or projects that would redound to the interest of poor communities. ...

[Merlin]

It is good that the government is ready to start talk again with the Muslim rebels.

And it is good that Malaysia is the facilitator in this case as well as that in Southern Thaliand. Malaysia is a Muslim majority country and is the immediate neighbor at the Muslim southern regions of the Philippines and Thailand.

Philippines ready for new talks with Muslim rebels

2 hrs ago KORONADAL, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippines is using mediation to restart peace talks with Muslim separatist guerrillas in the south, despite recent fighting, President Gloria Arroyo has said.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the 111th anniversary of the declaration of Philippine independence from Spanish rule, Arroyo said the Malaysian government was working to reopen the talks that stalled in August after rebel commanders attacked Christian communities.

"We are awaiting advice from our third party facilitator, the government of Malaysia, on when peace talks will resume," Arroyo said, adding that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Rajak had given "assurances of his country's support to the peace process" with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

She said a government negotiator was in behind-the-scenes discussions with rebels over the agenda for any peace talks.

However chief MILF negotiator Mohagher Iqbal denied there had been direct contact. ....

The 12,000-strong MILF has waged a long campaign for a separate state in the southern third of the largely-Christian Philippines.

Talks between the two sides began following a 2003 ceasefire, but were suspended last August after the country's Supreme Court blocked a deal that would have given the MILF control of a swathe of land.

In recent weeks, fighting has stepped up in the southern island of Mindanao with three MILF camps overrun and at least 30 rebels slain.

[Merlin]

This is a big catch by the Philippines.

Troops capture wanted bomb expert in S Philippines

MANILA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Government security forces captured a wanted bomb expert linked to a series of bombings that left dozens of people dead when the troops swooped down on his lair in the troubled southern Philippines, police said.

Chief Superintendent Bensali Jabarani, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the arrest of Ansar Bernardino Venancio, also known as Hasan Venancio, was conducted after more than a month of intelligence-gathering on his whereabouts. .....

Police and military intelligence units have been hunting down Venancio since his name appeared as one of those responsible not only for the simultaneous bombings of a gas station, a passenger bus and Light Rail Transit train on Dec. 30, 2000, but also for the Davao City International Airport blast that left more than 22 people dead.

What drew further attention of the security forces on Venancio was when a background check and a trail of his activities revealed that he maintains link with the Indonesia-based Southeast Asia terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which has connections with the international terror group al-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden.

JI, labeled as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, is a militant Islamic network dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic state in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei. ....

[Merlin]

There have been bombings. It is not sure if they are local groups, or have link and support of foreign groups.

UN cancels Philippines aid missions after bombings

3 hrs ago MANILA (AFP) — UN agencies have cancelled all aid missions to the southern Philippines due to safety concerns after a series of bombings that left about a dozen dead and 100 injured, officials said. ....

The WFP had been scheduled to deliver rice next week to thousands of people displaced by hostilities with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern region of Mindanao.

The military and police have declared a heightened state of alert in the entire south after the deadly bombings in the city of Cotabato on Sunday and on the island of Jolo and the city of Iligan on Tuesday.

The authorities have blamed the Cotabato and Iligan bombings on the MILF and the Jolo explosion on the Abu Sayyaf, an Al-Qaeda-linked group. ....

The Abu Sayyaf have been linked by intelligence agencies to the Al-Qaeda network and have been blamed for the worst militant attacks in the Philippines including bombings and kidnappings of foreigners and Christians. ....

Officials say the latest attacks appear to have been well coordinated and planned with the help of foreign militants. Police are checking whether all three attacks might be related.

[Merlin]

This insurgency has lasted 4 decades. I'm glad there are plans to resume peace talks again, after the last round collapsed in 2004.

Philippines agrees to rebel talks

9 July [BBC] The Philippines government plans to resume peace talks with communist rebels next month, officials have said.

The agreement to return to talks was reached after the government promised not to arrest rebel negotiators or demand an immediate ceasefire.

The last round of talks collapsed in 2004 amid communist anger at being included on US and European lists of terrorist groups.

The Philippines' communist insurgency has lasted four decades.

In 2005, the government suspended the Joint Agreement on Immunity and Safety Guarantee, which had protected 97 rebel negotiators and consultants from arrest at the talks and when they travelled to consult rural communities.

Avelino Razon Jr, the presidential adviser to the talks, said the government would renew that agreement from 17 July. .....

[Merlin]

Jamaah Islamiyah in S Philippines

Philippines faces serious threat from Jemaah Islamiayh bombers

MANILA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Filipino Muslim militants sheltered them, fed them and helped them evade government troops when they first reached Philippine shores across the Sulawesi Sea. In return, they trained locals to make powerful bombs designed to sow terror.

That's how a handful of fugitive bombers of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an Indonesia-headquartered militant group with close ties with the Al Qaeda network, took roots and slowly regained clout in the insurgency-infested southern Philippines, officials and analysts said.

But this interaction has apparently entered another level with JI operatives expanding their network and trying to forge an alliance with small groups of local extremists struggling for survival, said Rodolfo "Boogie" Mendoza, a top Filipino counter-terrorism researcher. ....

He said around ten Indonesian bombers arrived late last year, bringing the total number of JI operatives hiding in the jungles of southern Philippines to 40, headed by a certain Indonesian national Usman Riesal and two prime suspects in the deadly bombings in Indonesia's tourist island of Bali in 2002.

"But more importantly there are also Filipinos being recruited, and things become complicated," said Mendoza, who retired from the police force last year with nearly 20 years of experience in terrorist investigation.

Aiming to spread its network across the Southeast Asia, JI has set its foot on the Philippine soils as early as 1997 and is believed to have instructed Filipino Muslim militants into setting off five bombs in Manila on Dec. 22, 2002, killing 22 people.

Founded by Islamic extremists in Indonesia in the early 1990s, JI is now seen able to infiltrate into the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia to cooperate with local militants.

A string of explosions rocked southern Philippines in the past three weeks, killing 12 people and injuring over 100 others. While in Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, suicide bombers attacked two posh Western hotels on July 17, leaving nine dead and 61 wounded.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales on Thursday told Manila-based foreign reporters that these blasts, all bearing highly-suspected JI characters, seem to be connected. .....

[Merlin]

Philippines may have scored a good success here.

Suspect bomber arrested in S Philippines

COTABATO, the Philippines, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Philippine security forces have captured a Muslim rebel commander blamed for a series of bombings in the southern Mindanao region, police said Friday.

Mohamad Jaafar Maguid, a field commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest rebel group, was arrested in the township of Maasim in Sarangani province, Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu Jr., regional police chief, said. Police also recovered a rocket propelled grenade launcher and other weapons.

Khu said the rebel commander was part of the bomb attack last month in Sarangani that left one civilian dead and over 30 people wounded.

The 11,800-member MILF has been fighting decades to establish an Islamic state in the south of the Catholic-dominating Philippines.

Peace talks between the group and the government have resumed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, this week, after a freeze of ten months amid intensifying clashes.

[Merlin]

This Abu Sayyaf group may be small, but it is deadly, and has links with al Qaeda.

At Least 45 Killed In Major Battle In Philippine South

12 Aug MANILA (Reuters) - A major battle between Philippine troops and Muslim guerrillas on a remote southern island has killed at least 45 people, a senior military commander said Thursday.

At least 22 rebels and 23 soldiers were killed in a military assault Wednesday on a base of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the interior of the southern island of Basilan, Brigadier-General Rustico Guerrero told reporters.

"We launched a decisive law enforcement operation targeting the Abu Sayyaf's main training base on Basilan, but we were met by heavy resistance," Guerrero said.

Other officials said the battle died down after eight hours, as the guerrillas fled into the heavily wooded interior of the island. ...

The Abu Sayyaf, the smallest but the most deadly of several Muslim groups fighting for independence from Manila in the south of the Roman Catholic state, is estimated to have about 350 hard-core followers based mostly on Basilan and the nearby island of Jolo.

It has links with Jemaah Islamiah, a pan-Asian radical Muslim group blamed for attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings and the bomb attacks on two hotels in Jakarta last month.

Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the worst militant attack in the Philippines, the sinking of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 in which 100 people were killed.

It has also been in the spotlight for high-profile kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross officials on Jolo who were later freed. Newspapers said large ransoms were paid, although officials have denied any payments.