Abu Sayyaf, officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than four decades, Moro groups have been engaged in an insurgency seeking to make Moro Province independent. The group is considered violent and was responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of MV Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic abu, and sayyaf. As of April 2023, the group is estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. They use mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy. The President of the Philippines is the Commander-in-Chief of the AFP and forms military policy with the Department of National Defense, an executive department acting as the principal organ by which military policy is carried out, while the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines serves as the overall commander and the highest-ranking officer in the AFP.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is a group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan, and other neighbouring islands. The armed wing of the group was the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), although the name of its parent organization, the MILF, was often used to refer to the BIAF. In July, 2018, the Philippine government passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, giving more autonomy to Muslims. In return, MILF announced that it would disarm its 30,000 fighters.
The Rizal Day bombings, also referred to as the December 30 bombings, were a series of bombings that occurred around Metro Manila in the Philippines on December 30, 2000. The explosions occurred within a span of a few hours, killing 22 people and injuring over 100 others.
Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines (OEF-P) or Operation Freedom Eagle was part of Operation Enduring Freedom and the global War on Terror. The Operation targeted the various Jihadist terror groups operating in the country. By 2009, about 600 U.S. military personnel were advising and assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the Southern Philippines. In addition, by 2014, the CIA had sent its elite paramilitary officers from their Special Activities Division to hunt down and kill or capture key terrorist leaders. This group had the most success in combating and capturing Al-Qaeda leaders and the leaders of associated groups like Abu Sayyaf.
The Moro conflict was an insurgency in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, which involved multiple armed groups. Peace deals have been signed between the Philippine government and two major armed groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but other smaller armed groups continue to exist. In 2017, the peace council settled around 138 clan conflicts.
The Western Mindanao Command is the Armed Forces of the Philippines' unified command in charge of the Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, and the BARMM. It is responsible for the defense of these areas against external aggression, as well as combating terrorism and insurgency. It is also one of the government organizations advocating the "Culture of Peace" in Mindanao.
Cardozo Manalo Luna is a retired three-star general and the 35th Vice Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Cardozo Luna also served as the commander of two unified commands, Eastern Mindanao Command and Central Command. He served as the Philippine Ambassador to The Hague, Netherlands from 2009 until 2010 He is the current Undersecretary of Department of National Defense.
The civil conflict in the Philippines as of February 2019, consists of an insurgency pitting government forces against Maoist rebels, that began in 1969 during the rule of Ferdinand Marcos.
Zulkifli Abdhir was a Malaysian who was one of the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists. The American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agency offered a US$5 million reward for information leading to his capture. He was the maker of bombs delivered for usage to several terrorist groups. He was often referred to by the nom de guerreMarwan. He was suspected of leading the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), being part of the central command of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings. He was suspected of hiding in Mindanao under the protection of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is an autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao.
The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, is an Islamist militant organization based in Mindanao, the Philippines. It follows the Wahhabi ideology that is currently being spread by Wahhabi preachers in the country. It is a smaller player in the overall Moro insurgency in the Philippines and is mostly active in Maguindanao and other places in central Mindanao. It is a breakaway group from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front founded by Ameril Umbra Kato. Following Kato's death, the group split into three factions, one of which has aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), while the other two are less radical.
The Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) is a final peace agreement signed between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on March 27, 2014 at the Malacañang Palace in Manila. Under the agreement, the Islamic separatists would turn over their firearms to a third party, which would be selected by the rebels and the Philippine government. The MILF agreed to decommission its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF). In return, the government would establish an autonomous Bangsamoro. Power sharing was a central point to the autonomy redesign.
The Mamasapano clash was a shootout that took place during a police operation by the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on January 25, 2015, in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, then-undivided Maguindanao. The operation, codenamed Oplan Exodus, was intended to capture or kill wanted Malaysian terrorist and bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir and other Malaysian terrorists or high-ranking members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The Bangsamoro Organic Law, also known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), and officially designated as Republic Act No. 11054, is a Philippine law that provided for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The Maute group, also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, was a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters led by Omar Maute, the alleged founder of a Dawlah Islamiya, or Islamic state, based in Lanao del Sur, Philippines. The group, which a Philippine Army brigade commander characterized as terrorist, had been conducting a protection racket in the remote settlements of Butig, Lanao del Sur. This group follows the Wahhabi ideology and uses the book of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab called Kitab at-Tawhid in indoctrinating its followers. It had clashed on several occasions with Armed Forces of the Philippines troops, the most significant of which began in May 2017 and culminated in the siege of Marawi.
The 2000 Philippine campaign against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was a military campaign conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against a Muslim secessionist group that took place during the presidency of Joseph Estrada in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines. The campaign was waged "to weaken the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's capability to undermine the territorial integrity of the Philippines and inflict harm on both government personnel and civilians".
The siege of Marawi, also known as the Marawi crisis and the Battle of Marawi, was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government security forces against militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf Salafi jihadist groups. The battle also became the longest urban battle in the modern history of the Philippines.
The Philippines is one of the state opponents of the militant group, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), more commonly referred to by the local media as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Carlito Guancing Galvez Jr. is a retired Philippine Army general serving as the Senior Undersecretary and briefly as officer-in-charge of the Department of National Defense since 2023 and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process since 2018. He also served as the Chief Implementer of the Philippines' Declared National Policy Against COVID-19. In November 2020, he was appointed as the country's COVID-19 vaccine czar, and was responsible for leading the government's efforts in bringing into the country about 245.23 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of May 2022 beginning in 2021 despite the global vaccine shortage. Prior to this, he also previously served as the 50th Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from April to December 2018.
