Terrorism in the Philippines

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Terrorism is a major social issue in the Philippines linked to the Moro conflict and the communist rebellion. [1] The country ranks in 18th place on the Global Terrorism Index's 2023 list of countries most affected by terrorism. [2]

Contents

Overview

Since the late 1960s, terrorism has become a major problem in the Philippines. [3] These terrorist attacks are often carried out by several Jihadist and militants groups with different ideologies and motives. [4] Such acts of terrorism include Bombings, Domestic terrorism, Kidnapping, Drug trafficking, Extortion, Mass murder, Assassination and other types of attack. Terrorist groups like Abu Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and Jemaah Islamiyah mostly operate in the Southern Philippines. [5] The New People's Army maintains a wider range of operations across the country and launches attacks albeit on a lesser intensity than other rebel movements.

Following the September 11 attacks, the Philippines became a new front on the American-led War on Terror [6] During George W. Bush’s presidency, the U.S sent foreign aid and American troops in Mindanao to assist in counterinsurgency operations as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines. The Siege of Marawi ended in the deaths of several terrorist leaders and reduction of Islamic State presence in the Philippines.

According to Philippine laws, terrorism is a crime under the Human Security Act of 2007 which describes such acts as causing "widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace". The first group to be officially listed as a terrorist organization under the law was the Abu Sayyaf on September 10, 2015, by the Basilan provincial court. [9] The law's weaknesses was cited by Senator Panfilo Lacson, who called the law a "dead letter law" for being "severely underutilized". [10]

On 3 July 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11479, better known as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. This replaced the Human Security Act and revised and expanded the definition of terror offenses. [11] Rights groups criticized the law, calling it "draconian", and filed a case on its constitutionality to the Supreme Court; the Court upheld the law on 26 April 2022 [12] but struck down provisions allowing the anti-terror council (ATC) to designate a person or a group as terrorists based on a request by another country [13] and a vague definition of terrorist acts that was deemed too "overbroad and violative of freedom of expression." [14]

Through the ATC, the Philippine government has designated individuals and organizations linked to the group as "terrorists". [15] On 21 September 2022, an petition filed by the Philippine government in 2018 to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA) as terrorist organizations citing the Human Security Act was denied by the Manila Regional Trial Court, which ruled that the groups were not organized for terrorism and their resort to armed guerrilla warfare was only a means to achieve their purpose. It also cited the absence of a law that banned membership in communist groups. [16]

Since January 2000 radical Islamist groups and Islamist separatist forces have carried out over 40 major bombings against civilian targets, mostly in the southern regions of the country around Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago. [17] Numerous bombings have also been carried out in and around Metro Manila, several hundred kilometres from the conflict in the southern regions, due to its political importance. From 2000 to 2007 attacks killed nearly 400 civilians and injured well over 1500 more, [18] more casualties than caused by bombings and other attacks in Indonesia, Morocco, Spain, Turkey, or Britain during the same period. [17]

Public transport and other gathering places, such as street markets, have been targets, however large-scale abductions and shootings have also been carried out by these groups, predominantly by the Abu Sayyaf and the Rajah Solaiman Movement. [18]

Under the Bongbong Marcos administration in June 2023, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) designated four leaders of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), a coalition of groups with links to the CPP-NPA, [19] as terrorists; Windel Bolinget, Jennifer Awingan, Sarah Abellon-Alikes, and Steve Tauli were accused of being members of the CPP-NPA Ilocos Cordillera Regional White Area Committee. [20] A month later, the ATC suspended Congressman for the 3rd district of Negros Occidental, Arnolfo Teves Jr.; his brother, Pryde Henry Teves; and eleven other associates as terrorists acting under what it called the "Teves Terrorist Group", in connection with the assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in March. This was the first time the council designated an elected official as a terrorist. [21]

List of terrorist incidents

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Sayyaf</span> Jihadist militant group in the southwestern Philippines

Abu Sayyaf, officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that followed 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 five decades, Moro groups had been engaged in an insurgency seeking to make Moro Province independent. The group is considered violent and is responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of MV Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people. The name of the group was derived from Arabic abu, and sayyaf. As of April 2023, the group was estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. They use mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New People's Army</span> Armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines

The New People's Army, abbreviated NPA or BHB, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aiming to consolidate political power from what it sees as the present "bourgeois reactionary puppet government" and to aid in the "people's democratic revolution". Founded on March 29, 1969, by the collaboration of Jose Maria Sison and former members of the Hukbalahap led by Bernabe Buscayno, the NPA has since waged a guerrilla war based on the Maoist strategy of protracted people's war. The NPA is one of the key figures in the ongoing Communist rebellion in the Philippines, the longest ongoing conflict in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of the Philippines</span> Political party in the Philippines

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is a far-left, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. It is designated as a terrorist group by the United States Department of State together with Sison and its armed wing New People's Army (NPA) in 2002. The European Union renewed its terrorist designation on the organization in 2019, though a 2009 ruling by the EU's second highest court delisted Sison as a "person supporting terrorism" and reversed a decision by member governments to freeze assets. According to the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, the CPP and the NPA aims to destabilize the Philippines' economy and overthrow the national government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jose Maria Sison</span> Filipino Maoist leader (1939–2022)

Jose Maria Canlas Sison, also known as Joma, was a Filipino writer, poet, and activist who founded and led the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and added elements of Maoism to its philosophy—which would be known as National Democracy. His ideology was formed by applying Marxism–Leninism–Maoism to the history and circumstances of the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Democratic Front of the Philippines</span> Revolutionary left-wing coalition in the Philippines

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is a coalition of revolutionary social and economic justice organizations, agricultural unions, trade unions, indigenous rights groups, leftist political parties, and other related groups in the Philippines. It belongs to the much broader National Democracy Movement and the communist rebellion in the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Intelligence Coordinating Agency</span> Primary intelligence gathering and analysis arm of the Philippine government

The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) is the primary intelligence gathering and analysis arm of the Government of the Philippines in charge of carrying out overt, covert, and clandestine intelligence activities. The NICA directs, coordinates, and integrates all intelligence activities, both foreign and domestic, concerning national security, serving as the leading intelligence collector of the national government, focusing on the country's strategic intelligence requirements. It is mandated to prepare intelligence estimate on local and foreign situation for the formulation of national security policies by the President and the National Security Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isnilon Hapilon</span> Philippine Moro terrorist (1968–2017)

Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, also known by the nom de guerreAbu Abdullah al-Filipini, was a Filipino Islamist militant affiliated with ISIS. He was formerly leader of Abu Sayyaf Group, before its battalions pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. An April 2016 issue of ISIL's weekly newsletter Al Naba said that Hapilon had been appointed as "emir of all Islamic State forces in the Philippines".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Security Act</span> Philippine law

The Human Security Act of 2007, officially designated as Republic Act No. 9372, was a Philippine law that took effect on July 20, 2007. The law, which was watered-down after opposition from some politicians and rights groups feared the legislation would endanger human rights, was aimed at tackling militants, particularly the Abu Sayyaf, in the southern Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New People's Army rebellion</span> Insurgency in the Philippines (1969–present)

The New People's Army rebellion is an ongoing conflict between the government of the Philippines and the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It is the world's longest ongoing communist insurgency and the largest, most prominent communist armed conflict in the Philippines, with more than 43,000 insurgency-related fatalities between 1969 and 2008. Due to the involvement of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the legal wing of the CPP, in the conflict, it is also called the CPP–NPA–NDF conflict, or simply the C/N/N conflict, especially in the context of peace talks with the Philippine government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters</span> Islamist militant group based in the Philippines

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, is an Islamist jihadist militant organization based in Mindanao, in the southern Philippines. It is a smaller player in the overall Moro insurgency 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, while the other two are less radical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist armed conflicts in the Philippines</span> 1942–present insurgencies in the Philippines

The history of communist armed conflicts in the Philippines is closely related to the history of Communism in the Philippines, with various armed conflict linked to the armed wings of the various communist organizations that have evolved since 1930. The two largest conflicts have been the Hukbalahap Rebellion of 1942–1954, and the ongoing rebellion of the New People's Army, which began in 1969 under the auspices of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). But various splinter groups have since separated from the CPP and have had a history of armed conflict with the Philippine government since then.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maute group</span> 2012–2019 Philippine Islamist militant group

Dawlah Islamiya, also called Islamic State of Lanao and formerly named as the Maute Group, is a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters. Based in Lanao del Sur, it was founded by brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute. The organization, which also conducted a protection racket operation in the municipality of Butig, clashes on several occasions with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the most significant of which began in May 2017 and culminated in the siege of Marawi.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benito Tiamzon</span> Philippine political organizer

Benito Tiamzon was a Filipino political organizer and until his arrest in March 2014 by Philippine security forces, was believed to be the Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilma Tiamzon</span> Philippine politician (1952–2022)

Wilma Tiamzon was a Filipino political organizer and until her arrest in March 2014 by Philippine security forces, believed to be the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020</span> Philippine legislation

The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, officially designated as Republic Act No. 11479, is a counter-terrorism law intended to prevent, prohibit, and penalize terrorism in the Philippines. The law was passed by the 18th Congress and signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on July 3, 2020, effectively replacing the Human Security Act of 2007 on July 18, 2020.

The 2020 Jolo bombings occurred on August 24, 2020, when insurgents alleged to be jihadists from the Abu Sayyaf group detonated two bombs in Jolo, Sulu, Philippines, killing 14 people and wounding 75 others. The first occurred as Philippine Army personnel were assisting in carrying out COVID-19 humanitarian efforts. The second, a suicide bombing, was carried out near the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral.

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In August 2022, a motorboat carrying rebels of the New People's Army exploded in Catbalogan, Samar. The explosion killed the passengers including NPA leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon.

References

  1. ↑ Mendoza, Ronald U.; Ong, Rommel Jude G.; Romano, Dion Lorenz L.; Torno, Bernadette Chloe P. (2021). "Counterterrorism in the Philippines: Review of Key Issues". Perspectives on Terrorism. 15 (1): 49–64. ISSN   2334-3745. JSTOR   26984797.
  2. ↑ "Global Terrorism Index 2023: Measuring the Impact of Terrorism" (PDF). Vision of Humanity. Sydney: Institute for Economics and Peace. March 2023. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  3. ↑ Joy Arellano, Clarisa. "EFFECT OF TERRORISM ON EMPLOYMENT AND RISE PRODUCTION IN THE PHILIPPINES" (PDF).
  4. ↑ Kalicharan, Veera Singam (2019). "An Evaluation of the Islamic State's Influence over the Abu Sayyaf". Perspectives on Terrorism. 13 (5): 90–101. ISSN   2334-3745. JSTOR   26798580.
  5. ↑ "Terrorism - Philippines travel advice". GOV.UK. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  6. ↑ Gershman, John (2002). "Is Southeast Asia the Second Front?". Foreign Affairs. 81 (4): 60–74. doi:10.2307/20033240. ISSN   0015-7120. JSTOR   20033240.
  7. ↑ National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. (2016). Global Terrorism Database (globalterrorismdb_0616dist.xlsx Archived 10 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine ). Retrieved from https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd University of Maryland
  8. ↑ National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. (2016). Global Terrorism Database (gtd1993_0616dist.xlsx Archived 10 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine ). Retrieved from https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd University of Maryland
  9. ↑ "Philippine court designates Abu Sayyaf a terrorist group". Sun Star. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Moaje, Marita (17 June 2020). "Lacson, Esperon cite weaknesses of Human Security Act". Philippine News Agency . Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  11. ↑ "Philippines: Dangerous anti-terror law yet another setback for human rights". Amnesty International. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  12. ↑ "Supreme Court upholds with finality most of anti-terror law". Rappler. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  13. ↑ "SC voids anti-terror law power to designate terrorists based on other country's request". Rappler. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  14. ↑ "Supreme Court voids anti-terror law's 'killer' caveat on 'harmful' dissent". Rappler. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  15. ↑ Pulta, Benjamin (13 July 2023). "ATC designates 6 alleged CPP-NPA members as 'terrorists'". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  16. ↑ Maitem, Jeoffrey (22 September 2022). "Philippine court junks govt petition to designate communist party as terrorist group". Benar News. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  17. 1 2 Human Rights Watch Lives Destroyed: Attacks on Civilians in the Philippines. July 2007
  18. 1 2 Carlos H. Conde, The New York Times 400 killed by terrorism in Philippines since 2000, report says 30 July 2007
  19. ↑ "Philippine Journal of Linguistics". Linguistic Society of the Philippines. 1987: 82. ISSN   0048-3796 . Retrieved 20 September 2023.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ↑ "Gov't designates 4 Cordillera IP activists as 'terrorists'". CNN Philippines . 11 July 2023. Archived from the original on 26 July 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  21. ↑ "Anti-Terrorism Council defends tagging Teves as terrorist". Rappler. 1 August 2023.
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