Day 4 Assignment

(50% of the score will be added to your midterm exam)

Name: Breeze Tubato

Section: BS MarE- D
Date:
Research: Terrorist groups/ terrorism in the Philippines.
1. Abu Sayyaf (20 points)
a. Who are they?
The ASG is a violent Muslim terrorist group operating in the southern Philippines.
Some ASG leaders allegedly fought in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion
and are students and proponents of radical Islamic teachings. The group split
from the much larger Moro National Liberation Front in the early 1990s under the
leadership of Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, who was killed in a clash with
Philippine police in December 1998. His younger brother, Khadaffy Janjalani,
replaced him as the nominal leader of the group.

b. Why are they protesting against the Philippine government?

To seeks an independent Islamic state for the Filipino Muslim minority, known as
the Moro people, who live primarily in the Philippines’ Mindanao region.

c. What is their mission?

To carry out several high-profile assassinations and bombings in pursuit of its
goal, developing a reputation as the most violent Islamic separatist group in the
Philippines.
d. Who or where do they get their funds?
The ASG is largely supported by Middle Eastern Islamic extremists, but also
receives funding from regional terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiya (JI),
which is based mainly in Indonesia, and through acts of ransom and extortion.
Libya publicly reported in 2000 that it paid millions of dollars for the release of the
foreign hostages seized from Malaysia. JI operatives have provided training to
ASG members and likely facilitated at least some of the ASG’s terrorist attacks.

2. MILF (20 points)

a. Who are they?
 The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is the largest militant organization in
the Philippines and seeks autonomy for Filipino Muslims. The MILF split from the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1977, although it was generally inactive
and did not call itself the MILF until 1984. The MILF controls territory in the
southern Philippines, governing by Shariah law. It has generally focused on
political negotiation, but it has a significant history of terrorism and militancy. In
2014, the MILF concluded peace negotiations with the Philippine government for
an autonomous region in the southern Philippines, to be called the
Bangsamoro. The MILF is in the process of gradual disarmament. 

b. Why are they protesting against the Philippine government?

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is the largest militant organization in

the Philippines and seeks autonomy for Filipino Muslims. The MILF split
from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1977, although it was generally
inactive and did not call itself the MILF until 1984. The MILF controls territory in the
southern Philippines, governing by Shariah law. 

c. What is their mission?

It has generally focused on political negotiation, but it has a significant history of

terrorism and militancy. In 2014, the MILF concluded peace negotiations with the
Philippine government for an autonomous region in the southern Philippines, to
be called the Bangsamoro. The MILF is in the process of gradual disarmament. 

d. Who or where do they get their funds?

Suport from the People becuase of their effective community engagement,

allocation of government services, and dedication to Islam seemed to
have won them broad support.

3. MNLF (20 points)

a. Who are they?
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Muslim separatist movement in
the southern Philippines that has employed guerrilla tactics and violence
in its campaign for the creation of an independent democratic, Islamic
state.

b. Why are they protesting against the Philippine government?

The Mindanao Independence Movement.

c. What is their mission?

 Its stated purpose was to create an independent Islamic state or
autonomous region for the Filipino Muslim minority, known as the Moro
people, who live primarily in the Philippines’ Mindanao region. For
about two decades beginning in the 1970s, the MNLF was the leading
organization in the Moro separatist movement.

d. Who or where do they get their funds?

Supported by external partners, they never gained popular support among
the Moros. It remained a loose, weak movement with little recorded
activity and under high military pressure from the government.
4. BIFF (20 points)
a. Who are they?
The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), sometimes called the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), is an Islamic separatist
organization based in the southern Philippines. The BIFF was founded in 2010
by Ameril Umbra Kato as a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF).

b. Why are they protesting against the Philippine government?

It seeks an independent Islamic state for the Filipino Muslim minority, known as
the Moro people, who live primarily in the Philippines’ Mindanao region

c. What is their mission?

To attack government forces and civilian targets, especially to undermine peace
talks between the MILF and the Philippine government.

d. Who or where do they get their funds?

BIFF is thought to have access to a relatively large armory composed of pistols,
M-60 machine guns, modified long-arm sniper rifles, .50 caliber heavy weapons,
mortars, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), landmines and various types of
automatic assault weapons. Kato siphoned off most of these munitions after he
defected from the 105th Command—the largest and best equipped of the MILF’s
various field divisions.

5. NPA (20 points)

a. Who are they?
 The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) formed in 1968, and its armed
wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), was founded in 1969. Because the CPP
and NPA are so closely intertwined, they are often jointly referred to as the CPP-
NPA. The CPP-NPA has historically focused on building support among the rural
peasantry, although it has operated throughout the Philippines. While it peaked in
size and influence in the 1970s and 1980s, the CPP-NPA still engages in
significant levels of violence and is the world’s oldest existing Communist i
nsurgency.

The military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the NPA is a
Maoist group formed in March 1969 with the aim of overthrowing the
government through protracted guerrilla warfare. The chairman of the CPP’s Central
Committee and the NPA’s founder, Jose Maria Sison, reportedly directs CPP and
NPA activity from the Netherlands, where he lives in self-imposed exile. Fellow
Central Committee member and director of the CPP’s overt political wing, the
National Democratic Front (NDF), Luis Jalandoni also lives in the Netherlands
and has become a Dutch citizen. Although primarily a rural-based guerrilla group,
the NPA has an active urban infrastructure to conduct terrorism and uses city-
based assassination squads.

b. Why are they protesting against the Philippine government?

Sison outlined the CPP-NPA’s guiding principles in a book called Philippine
Society and Revolution. He identified three major problems in the Philippines:
bureaucrat capitalism, feudalism, and U.S. imperialism. Sison called for major
transformation in Philippine society and advocated for the Maoist concept of a
protracted people’s war to achieve this change. In the same year, the Philippine
government conducted a large military offensive against the CPP-NPA,
decimating its small central group of fighters.

c. What is their mission?

The Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) seeks

to overthrow the Philippine government in favor of a new state led by the working
class and to expel U.S. influence from the Philippines.

d. Who or where do they get their funds?

Most of its funding from contributions of supporters in the Philippines, Europe,
and elsewhere and from so-called revolutionary taxes extorted from local
businesses and politicians.
6. The Battle in Marawi (100 points)
 Marawi, situated on the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines, was the
site of a bloody urban battle between ISIL fighters and government forces.
Officially known as the Islamic City of Marawi, it is the largest Muslim city in the
predominantly Catholic nation. ISIL fighters laid siege to the city in May,
prompting months of heavy combat that prompted hundreds of thousands to flee
and left more than 1,000 dead.

a. What happened?
On May 23, 2017, government forces clashed with armed fighters from two ISIL-
affiliated groups - Abu Sayyaf and the Maute. The siege was triggered
when the military tried to arrest top ISIL leader Isnilon Hapilon. This prompted
attackers to fight back, declaring the city a new caliphate of ISIL, or the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant group, also known as ISIS. They burned a Catholic
church, the city jail and two schools before occupying the main streets and
major bridges of the city. Churchgoers and residents were taken hostage and
a police officer was beheaded. On the evening of the attacks, Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the entire island of
Mindanao. Initially, Duterte predicted the battle would be over within weeks.

b. What causes the siege?

The siege was triggered when the military tried to arrest top ISIL leader
Isnilon Hapilon.

c. How and when did it end?

The capture of Marawi led to the longest siege by armed fighters in the
Philippines. On October 16, government troops stormed a hideout, killing
both Hapilon and Maute. The next day, Duterte declared the city
"liberated" even as sporadic fighting continued. On October 23, five months to
the day from the start of the siege, Delfin Lorenzana, Philippine defence
minister, declared there were no more "militants" in Marawi after troops
overpowered the remaining fighters. The bodies of 40 suspected gunmen,
and two of their wives, were found following the final stand.  Soldiers are
still looking for the three sons of Isnilon Hapilon, who are believed to be capable
of taking over the leadership and continuing the fight. The battle resulted in the
deaths of 920 fighters, 165 government soldiers and at least 45 civilians.
Officials say martial law will continue to be implemented in Marawi and the
surrounding Mindanao area as sporadic fighting continues there.

d. What are the effects of the battle?

The five-month long siege of Marawi resulted in massive displacement of
communities. Based on the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and
Recovery Program a total of 369,196 individuals were displaced by the crisis. 2
 These internally displaced persons (IDPs) were brought to emergency shelters
mainly in Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, and Iligan City. Due to congestion in
these emergency shelters, many families opted for a homebased arrangement
with close relatives and friends. The conflict also resulted in casualties and i
njuries. Government reports 168 casualties from the government forces; 114
civilians; 270 unidentified individuals; and 924 from the rebel forces.
Around 88 individuals were also reported missing by their relatives. Among the
civilian casualties, an undisclosed number of these deaths occurred in
emergency shelters and health facilities due to pneumonia, sepsis, and
complications from acute gastroenteritis, per reports of the Department of
Health.

e. What have you learned from this crisis?

THE six-month siege of Marawi City taught me many things that I shouldn’t
forget. A group of leftists, for instance, wants us to remember that martial law in
Mindanao as a result of the Marawi conflict. That martial law can actually be
embraced by the populace, just like the people of Mindanao have embraced it.

Relatedly, that’s another thing we learned in Marawi, by the way, that resonates
with someone like me that we, the civilian populace, can actually love our
soldiers.Our military men, bless them, took back Marawi from the Maute
terrorists. And they did so without violating the rights of the people by wanton killing
and torture, raping their womenfolk, taking their property or doing any of the things
that the military was supposed to have done during the first imposition of martial
law more than four decades ago.

Yet another thing we should learn from Marawi is that rehabilitation efforts in the
aftermath of something as disruptive and damaging as the year’s war will take a
long time and a lot of resources. This realization, I think, occurred to Duterte
when he refused to commemorate the first anniversary of the conflict, since a lot
of work still needed to be done to repair the damage to the people of the once-
bustling city.

Marawi was a shining moment for the Filipino people, when we collectively stared
down the most serious terrorist attack on our country, with the combined efforts
of a heroic military, a responsive government and a supportive citizenry.

“He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.”

- Lao Tzu
Prepared by: Ms. Jeceli Nobleza, MN
Subject: Readings in Philippine History