Thread: Philippines President Duterte declares martial law on Mindanao island

Still a needle in a haystack. Still $5 million lotto if you take him out.

Islamist gunmen continue to hold about 1,500 buildings in Marawi City in Mindanao after weeks of ferocious fighting that has left hundreds dead. Government forces, however, remain steadfast in clearing the city as the military pound identified Maute hideouts with air strikes.

I see the opposition tried to overturn him declaring martial law in Mindanao.

And the Supreme Court (rightly in my opinion) upheld his decision.

Wipe the fuckers out Rod.

Philippine President Asks for Extension of Martial Law in Mindanao

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Congress to extend martial law until December in the southern island of Mindanao, where the military has been fighting a bloody two-month insurgency by Islamic militants.

More than 500 people have been killed in the conflict, which began after a failed attempt by security forces to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a top Islamic State-linked militant leader. The insurgents burned down several buildings, including a church, and took several people hostage, prompting Duterte to impose a 60-day period of martial law on May 23 on the island of 21 million people.

The president's order expires this Saturday, July 22, as mandated under the Philippines constitution. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters in Manila Tuesday that Duterte has determined the rebellion will not be defeated by then.

More than 400 militants have been killed in the fighting.

https://www.voanews.com/a/philippine...o/3948536.html

Odd. And what is this "MILF meeting", I want to go to one.

Duterte to sign off on Muslim self-rule for Mindanao in counter-extremism drive
Published time: 18 Jul, 2017 15:09
Edited time: 18 Jul, 2017 15:35

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to push through long-delayed legislation giving autonomy to predominantly-Muslim parts of the embattled southern island of Mindanao.
It’s hoped the move will stem the rise of extremism in a region which has seen 500 people killed and thousands more displaced during the most recent conflict between Philippines forces and militants linked to the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the island’s capital city of Marawi.

“This moment is a significant step forward in our quest to end centuries of hatred, mistrust and injustice that cost and affected the lives of millions of Filipinos,” Duterte said in a speech Monday, as cited by Reuters.

Muslim extremists have been engaged in a decades-long insurgency which has claimed the lives of 100,000 people on Mindanao since the 1970s.

The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which proposes executive, legislative and fiscal autonomy for Muslim-majority areas of Mindanao, was the product of a peace agreement between the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Manila government in 2014.

Despite the bill being dogged by delays, the government is hopeful it will pass into law within the year.

“The next 12 months are full of opportunity but also fraught with so much danger. The dangers are staring us in the face: violent extremism, the source of the crisis in Marawi,” said Irene Santiago, the government’s chief peace negotiator.

Speaking at a MILF meeting Monday, the group’s chairman Al Haj Ebrahim said he believes the delay in passing BBL has led directly to the Marawi conflict.

"We live in very dangerous times... we watch with utter disgust of the destruction that violent extremism has inflicted in the city of Marawi," Ebrahim said.

"These misguided people have filled the vacuum created by our failure to enact the basic law and (they) feed into the frustration of our people."

Meanwhile, Duterte has asked Congress to extend martial law on Mindanao until the end of the year.

The constitution limits martial rule to 60 days but Congress can vote for an extension.

"The primary objective of the possible extension is to allow our forces to continue with their operations unhampered by deadlines and to focus more on the liberation of Marawi and its rehabilitation and rebuilding," said Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella, reading a letter signed by Duterte.

https://www.rt.com/news/396687-duter...nomy-mindanao/

A soldier from our village fighting in Marawi City died yesterday..... He died a hero. RIP

Are you in The Phillipines Graceless Fawn?
Do you know if the military are any closer to capturing the ISIS leaders held up in the city?

I'm pretty sure if he thought no-one was watching he'd level the place.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I see the opposition tried to overturn him declaring martial law in Mindanao.

And the Supreme Court (rightly in my opinion) upheld his decision.

Wipe the fuckers out Rod.

Always the imaginary boogieman, huh Harry?
Yet, don't recognize whom the real boogiemen are.

Pathetic.

^
He's brainwashed by western-centric cultural conditioning.

There are no rebels in Mindanao, it's manufactured news controlled by the corporate world(farang)elite.

Why is it every pair of cunts today includes that wanker jeff.

Is he running around looking for like minded dickheads?

As for you stroller, perhaps you could expand upon your in depth knowledge of Islamic terrorists in the Phils by explaining to the recently beheaded Vietnamese sailors' families that they were in fact executed by "manufactured news".

Twat.

Originally Posted by Wilsonandson

Are you in The Phillipines Graceless Fawn?
Do you know if the military are any closer to capturing the ISIS leaders held up in the city?

It has been said that the leaders have left Marawi City ages ago. They are still at large.

Marawi is just the battle ground..... At least, for now.

Where down south was that Thai teacher beaten to death and the villagers hid the guys that did it?

That was a few years ago but has NEVER left my memory.

Originally Posted by Eliminator

Where down south was that Thai teacher beaten to death and the villagers hid the guys that did it?

That was a few years ago but has NEVER left my memory.

Extremists trying to establish their own Islamic State.

Should be treated the same, if only for the sake of the general population in the area.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Should be treated the same

They have been, and worse.

Palawan PNP has been doing loads of leg work about suspicious activities in villages from outsiders like MNLF recruitments, etc.

They want to be proactive. Activities parallel to what's currently happening in Palawan now were similar to what happened in Marawi City a year or two ago and they neglected to nip it right in the bud.... Palawan could end up like Marawi City now, if they keep ignoring the current situation.

Wasn't here this morning another thread about Duterte?
Perhaps erased? (is he on black list?)

ISIS LEADERS IN SYRIA FUNDED PHILIPPINE MILITANTS BEFORE MARAWI TAKEOVER
BY JACK MOORE ON 7/21/17 AT 10:04 AM

The leadership of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in Syria funded militants in the Philippines to the tune of thousands of dollars before their lightning takeover of the southern city of Marawi in May, according to a new report.

Philippine militants with the Maute group and some from the Abu Sayyaf group swept into Marawi, on the southern island of Mindanao, and two months later the battles are ongoing. The clashes have left hundreds of Islamist fighters dead and forced others to flee, but Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said this week that as many as 220 fighters remain in the city.

The battle for Marawi represents the most significant capture of Asian territory by an ISIS-linked group, and the most notable since ISIS seized the Libyan central coastal city of Sirte in mid-2015.

The report, published Thursday by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, details new evidence of extensive contact between a Malaysian militant, Dr. Mahmud Ahmad—one of the leaders of ISIS’s East Asia wilayah, or province—and ISIS central command in Syria over the past year. The purpose of the meetings was to funnel money and fighters in a bid to grab territory from Philippine forces.

Ahmad sent ISIS money through Indonesia and used fighters from the outlawed Indonesian militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which the U.S. has designated as an extremist organization. The funding came in payments of tens of thousands of U.S. dollars via Western Union transfers in what amounts to direct support from ISIS.

Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of the Abu Sayyaf militant group—the radical Islamist ally of the Maute group—is leading the battle for Marawi. The Abu Sayyaf group, known for taking hostages to raise funds to boost its aim of creating a de facto Islamic state in the southern Philippines, has pledged allegiance to ISIS and has beheaded several Western nationals, including two Canadian men and a German man, in the last year.

Despite the ISIS support, most of the militants’ money likely came from local donations, and its recruiting was also mostly local, the report found. But the payments demonstrate how ISIS still had the ability to fund its affiliates around the world, even after severe losses in Iraq and Syria.

The report says the funding that allowed for such an emboldened seizure of one of the country’s cities could lead to a greater problem with extremism in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, where ISIS-inspired attacks or plots have taken place or been dismantled in recent years. The fear now for security services in Asia is that the various Asian militants waging the battle against Philippine forces in Marawi will return home with greater battlefield experience and expertise to wage jihad in their own countries.

“The risks won’t end when the military declares victory,” Sidney Jones, IPAC director, said in the report. “Indonesia and Malaysia will face new threats in the form of returning fighters from Mindanao, and the Philippines will have a host of smaller dispersed cells with the capacity for both violence and indoctrination.”

The report calls for greater cooperation between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in combating extremism, and says the Philippines should be leading the way in supporting Marawi residents who have been displaced. It also recommends reconstructing the city so that ill feeling among the population does not make the area “even more fertile ground for extremist recruitment.”

The report based its findings on messages on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, interviews with associates of militants in the Philippines and visits to Mindanao.

ISIS Leaders in Syria Funded Philippine Militants Before Marawi Takeover

Philippine lawmakers voted to extend martial law in Mindanao to end of this year

Congress of the Philippnes on Saturday (July 22) voted to extend martial law in Mindanao until the end of 2017, Inquirer.net reported.

The Senate and House of Representatives convened in a special session Saturday morning to discuss President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for the extension of martial law in Mindanao until the end of 2017,

According to the 1987 Constitution, Congress should vote jointly in a special session to determine the period of extension of martial law, but only upon the initiative of the President.

A total of 261 members of the Congress (both House and Senate) overwhelmingly voted to extend the Mindanao martial law, while only 18 voted against it.

“The result of the voting in Congress show that 261 in the affirmative and 18 in the negative. The motion to extend proclamation of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of writ of habeas corpus is hereby approved by the Congress,” Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said, reading the tally, before banging the gavel.

The vote came as troops continued their two-month long fight to wrest back the southern city of Marawi from Islamic State-inspired militants.

Duterte first declared martial law in Mindanao on May 23 shortly after the gunmen, waving the black flags of the IS group, occupied parts of Marawi, triggering weeks of bloody fighting.

Philippine lawmakers voted to extend martial law in Mindanao to end of this year - Thai PBS English News

Battles Between Philippine Extremists, Government-backed Separatists Kill 25

MANILA —
Fighting between government-backed separatist rebels and pro-Islamic State militants have killed at least 25 people in the southern Philippines, the army said on Monday, as the military battles to restore order on the troubled island of Mindanao.

Soldiers provided artillery support for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Muslim rebel group with which the government has signed a peace agreement, to try to tackle Islamist extremists, spokesman Colonel Gerry Besana said.

The MILF and the government have agreed to work together to thwart several militant groups in Mindanao that have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

The island of 22 million people and roughly the size of South Korea is under martial law at least until the end of the year, as President Rodrigo Duterte tries to extinguish a growing threat of radical Islam taking a hold and turning the southern Philippines into a magnet for foreign extremists.

The MILF is opposed to radical groups and sees them as undermining its legitimate quest for greater autonomy for Muslims in parts of Mindanao, to end nearly 50 years of conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.

"Based on reports from cease-fire monitors, the two sides suffered 25 casualties, including 20 from the ISIS-inspired group," Besana said, referring to Islamic State by another acronym.

He said 10 MILF were wounded and were being treated at a military hospital.

The conflict started on Aug 7 when extremists from Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) attacked two villages in Maguindanao and their homemade bombs killed five MILF fighters.

The MILF responded and clashes lasted six days, with the military firing howitzer cannons in support, Besana said.

The government and MILF have agreed on a Bangsamoro Basic Law, which needs legislative approval, to create an autonomous region for the Moro minority in the Philippines with its own executive, legislature and fiscal powers.

The BIFF is a breakaway faction of the MILF that disagrees with the peace process and wants an independent Islamic State in the south.

The military is concerned about the possibility that the BIFF, though smaller and less organised, could join forces with larger, more powerful militant group, Dawla Islamiya, better known as the Maute group.

The Maute group, with the support of armed elements of another group, Abu Sayyaf, has held the commercial heart of Marawi City through more than 80 days of clashes and air strikes by the military that have left 700 people dead and displaced some 600,000.

Army officials on Monday estimated about 20-40 militants were holed up in Marawi and believed to be holding scores of hostages as human shields, complicating efforts for a military aided by American technical support to retake the city.

The rebels were running out of options and could strap explosives on hostages and detonate if soldiers encircled their positions, the military said. There is no known precedent for suicide bombings in the Philippines.

https://www.voanews.com/a/philippine...s/3984583.html

PI military have been relying on US drones for accuracy and efficiency.

Marawi as the beginning not end

While Philippine military officials claim the battle for the Islamic State-besieged city is nearly closed, the contest for hearts and minds of those affected by the fighting has only begun

Over three months since Islamic State-aligned militants laid siege to the southern Philippine city of Marawi, military authorities insist that the end of the death, devastation and destruction is in sight.

But even when the last rebels are dislodged from their urban redoubts, it’s not clear Manila’s fight against IS-inspired militancy will be over anytime soon?

Philippine Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez Jr, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, estimates the city’s battle zone is now confined to a mere 400 to 600 square meter area, in which 40 or so fighters aligned with the local Maute Group are holed up with more than two dozen hostages allegedly being used as human shields.

In a recent briefing for reporters, he claimed that many of the remnant fighters are wounded and running out fast of ammunition and food due to strict security measures imposed on the military-encircled city. The recent retaking of the town’s central mosque and two strategic bridges, the government claims, has significantly reduced the rebels’ earlier room for maneuver and replenishment.

“I’m confident the end is already near,” he said, predicting troops would “normalize” the situation in the besieged city by September or October.

Restoring normality will be no easy task. The fighting continues to displace some 360,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Maranao Muslims, and has laid waste to what was the Philippines’ most religiously significant Muslim majority city on the southern island of Mindanao.

More than 800 people, mostly militants but also troops and civilians, have been killed since the fighting first erupted on May 23. The military estimates it has rescued over 1,700 people that were either taken hostage or trapped by the fighting.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has said it will cost around 56 billion pesos (US$1.1 billion) to rebuild the devastated city, as well as provide social welfare and other services to the displaced. The government recently announced it would float 30 billion pesos (US$600 million) worth of government bonds to help finance the reconstruction.

President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire southern island of Mindanao, long a hotbed of insurgency and rebellion, under martial law hours after the first clashes broke out in Marawi, a decision some saw as administrative overreach. He has since visited the urban warfare zone on three occasions.

Duterte has repeatedly urged his forces to quickly finish off the internationally supported militants, in hope of stopping the spread of Islamic State ideology outside of Marawi. During his most recent visit on August 24, the populist president even fired a sniper rifle in the direction of the militants in a macho show of support for his troops.

But after three months of heavy ground assaults and aerial bombardments, armed forces continue to miss official deadlines to rout the militants and reassert state control over the city and surrounding areas. Their mission has been undercut by hidden local support for militants the military believes it has recently significantly severed.

Galvez asserted that the IS-aligned militants’ stated vision of creating an Islamic caliphate in Mindanao is actually “getting smaller” as troops constrict the battle zone to a narrow pocket of resistance.

The recent arrests of Cayamora and Farhana Maute, respectively the father and mother of Abdullah and Omar Maute, the leaders of the eponymous Maute Group, has hit the militants.

The military claims the two Maute parents had provided financial and logistical support for the siege, the most devastating in the country’s long history of insurgency. Cayamora died on August 27 in state custody. Both Cayamora and Farhana were included in a martial law ordered arrest list of 310 individuals accused of rebellion for contributing to the assault on Marawi.

Another alleged prominent Maute Group supporter, former Marawi mayor Fajad Salic, was also recently arrested in Mindanao. Former Marawi mayor Omar Solitario, another prominent suspected Maute Group backer, is still at large, as are most of the other 300 suspects on the government’s arrest list.

Even so, the military claims to have broken the Maute Group’s hold on Marawi. On September 4, Galvez claimed that Abdullah Maute had been killed in a government air strike, though the claim has not yet been independently corroborated. He claimed the militants’ morale was “sagging” due to deprivation, injuries and the decapitation of its leaders.

That may or may not be the case. It’s unclear how many of the fighters have peeled away to nearby mountain areas or among internally displaced people camps with an eventual aim to regroup and relaunch their attacks. Galvez acknowledges that even after Marawi is eventually liberated from militant control, armed forces will face an uphill struggle combating Islamic State’s radical ideology.

“There is another battle after this battle,” said Galvez. “The battle that we will be fighting is the recruitment. Some Maute supporters are using the Marawi siege as leverage (to drum up local support),” he said, claiming some new recruits have been as young as 14-years old and easily swayed with anti-state messages disseminated over social media.

The prolonged fight at Marawi has at the same time awakened the military, largely trained and prepared for jungle fighting against rebel groups, to its deficiencies in combating modern urban warfare tactics deployed by the foreign-linked Maute Group.

Galvez refers to the Maute Group as a “hybrid terrorist group”, reference to its links with the local Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), an Islamic extremist group that has also declared its loyalty to Islamic State. Filipino troops’ attempt to arrest ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon, currently on a US government terrorist list and Islamic State’s designated ‘emir’ in Southeast Asia, sparked the initial fighting in Marawi.

He notes that past fighting with rebel groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), two ethnic Moro groups that have since signed ceasefire agreements with the government, seldom entailed long siege, high casualty fighting.

While certain former MILF members are now fighting with Maute Group, and with others linked through marriage, MILF has repeatedly condemned the group’s scorched earth tactics at Marawi.

Manila will also face a tall order in winning over those worst affected by the Marawi siege. Many of the displaced have expressed anger not only against the Maute Group for its destructive tactics, but also the government for laying waste to their city through perceived indiscriminate bombings and firefights.

Some analysts have viewed the death and devastation as a sort of propaganda victory for Islamic State-linked militants that has put Southeast Asia on the map of global terror organizations. Fighters from neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as from countries in the Middle East, have joined the fight.

In response, the military deployed last week an all-female team, consisting of over 100 soldiers and police officers, to help local government units address the urgent needs of families displaced by the security crisis.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), for its part, recently designated a locally respected Islamic religious leader Superintendent Ebra Moxsir Al Haj as Marawi’s new police chief. He previously served as president of the Imam Council of the Philippines, one of the country’s most influential Muslim organizations.

“After the battle in Marawi is over, we need to intensify our counterterrorism measures,” Moxsir recently said. “We should also counter the wrong ideology propagated by the Maute Group,” he added, noting that Islam is a “religion of peace” that “doesn’t tolerate killing or violence.”

But with some 360,000 internally displaced people and little progress made yet on reconstruction, many Marawi residents are destined for long waits in squalid evacuation centers and under-provisioned transitional shelters, pockets of deprivation and desperation where the government and Islamic State will compete to win heavy hearts and minds.

Marawi as the beginning not end | Asia Times