Fighting terrorism: Most prominent commitments of new army commander in the Philippines

In light of the presence and rapid spread of ISIS and a number of local armed groups linked to the terrorist organization, the Philippines has worked to limit the progress of these groups by changing its army commander, pinning its hopes on the return of security and stability in the country naturally.

The new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, General Romeo S. Brawner, pledged to maintain counterterrorism efforts as part of the forces' focus after he was appointed to succeed General Andres Centino.

During a conference of the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in July, General Brawner outlined five areas on which he will focus his efforts, in line with the call of the country’s president.

Brawner emphasized the need to unite all people internally, including officers, enlisted personnel, and human resources.

In his speech, Brawner indicated that the leadership “will preserve and protect gains to prevent the return of insurgency and terrorism in the country again,” pointing out, that “the Armed Forces of the Philippines will seek to modernize its equipment, facilities, operations, and sub-systems, as well as maintain discipline and professionalism to ensure that the system is a credible and efficient fighting force capable of defending the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

Senior military and defense officials from the Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint Chiefs of Staff, Special Staff and Technical staff attended the command conference to discuss the new operations, modernization, department plans and programs, and legislative agenda.

The Philippines grapples with terrorist and domestic groups, including those allied with ISIS.

In a study issued by the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC), the Philippines appears as the only country in Southeast Asia that is included on the list of the ten most vulnerable countries to terrorism in the world.

It is also considered the only country in Southeast Asia that is ranked among the ten countries most affected by this scourge.

According to the 2020 Terrorism Index, the New People’s Army (NPA) was the most active terrorist organization in the Philippines and was responsible for more than 35% of deaths and 38% of terrorism-related incidents in 2019.

Among the most prominent allies of ISIS in the Philippines is also the Maute group, the ISIS branch in Lanao, which was named after its founders, Cayamora Maute, his wife Farhana, and their seven sons, in 2015.

The Philippine army says they played a major role in recruiting new fighters and collecting money for ISIS, which they pledged allegiance to in 2016.

The IMCTC study said that Maute’s allegiance to ISIS was not due to intellectual affinity as much as it was to polish the group's image and show it as a more extreme faction.

Like many terrorist groups in the Philippines, the Maute fighters had links with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the manifestations of the rapprochement between them were embodied in the fact that the leader of the latter, known as Commander Bravo, opened his camps to train the Maute fighters.

In addition to the reasons for the Maute group’s strength and the increase in the number of its fighters is its targeting for recruitment in universities, especially the University of Mindanao, where it had a significant contribution to the terrorist attacks in the country, as well as the invasion of Marawi in 2017 and the establishment of hideouts in the mountains of the city from which it targeted the government forces.

After that, the group coordinated with ISIS to form an alliance in order to impose control on the city of Marawi, which is the capital of Muslims in the Catholic-majority Philippines, in 2017.

The alliance brought together Maranao, Tausug, and Maguindanao, the Hapilon faction of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), and an ISIS cell in the city of Cotabato, along with the Ansar al-Khalifa Philippines (AKP) group based in Sultan Kudarat.

In addition to these, there are other groups that are less influential and powerful in the scene of violence in the Philippines, most notably the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which was founded in 2010 after it split from MILF.

Later, this group split after the death of its leader, Ameril Umbra Kato, and disintegrated into three factions, only one of which pledged allegiance to ISIS, which is the faction of Esmael Abdulmalik, nicknamed Abu Toraype, who declared allegiance to the terrorist organization in 2016.

The history of the emergence of ISIS in the Philippines dates back to 2016, and the beginning of the launch was in May 2017, when armed men who had declared their allegiance to ISIS advanced to the city of Marawi.