The AFP has been very busy as of late so there are a lot of items to get through this week. First up 16 organizations have been designated terrorist groups.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168356 |
The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) has named 16 underground organizations linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) as terrorist groups.
In Resolution No. 288 (2022) dated January 26 and signed by ATC vice chairperson and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the ATC found probable cause to designate the following organization as "terrorist groups of persons, organizations or associations" based on verified and validation information, as well as testimonial and documentary evidence.
The resolution said the designation is aimed at eliminating, preventing, and suppressing the financing of terrorist acts, support and recruitment of members, and the supply of weapons to terrorists.
It added that designated terrorist organizations/associations under ATC Resolution No. 12 (2020) are "necessary and indispensable in the spotting, developing, recruitment and dispatch of cadres, given that membership in an underground organization is a requirement prior to becoming a cadre of the CPP-NPA."
The groups had been identified by the official website of the National Democratic Front (NDF) which enumerated these underground organizations as its "member organizations".
The resolution also said CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, in his keynote speech for the NDF's 48th anniversary in April 2021, identified these underground organizations, along with the CPP-NPA, as allied organizations of the NDF.
Because the NDF listed those groups as being member organizations the Ant-Terrorism Council declared them to be terror groups. That makes sense because the NDF has been declared a terrorist organization which means any group which is a member of the NDF would also be a terrorist organization. But what about those who advocate for the NDF? Would they not be considered terrorists?
Presidential candidate Ka Leody Guzman says the CPP-NPA-NDF are not terrorist groups but revolutionary groups.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2022/02/16/cpp-npa-ndf-are-revolutionaries-ka-leody/ |
Labor leader and presidential candidate Leodegario “Ka Leody” De Guzman believes that groups such as the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) that have been deemed terrorists by the national government are revolutionaries.
"(I don’t think they are only terrorists. I think they are a revolutionary group that want social justice),” said De Guzman at the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) presidential debate on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
Where is the NTF-ELCAC in all this? Where is Lorraine Badoy and Esperon and Parlade to accuse Leody of being a communist? Why is his political party not one of the groups listed as a terror group? How is this man able to run for the highest office in the land but when a young woman opened a community pantry she was immediately and maliciously red tagged as a communist by no less than the NTF-ELCAC?
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| https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/20/red-tagging-forces-maginhawa-community-pantry-to-stop-operation/ |
Why is no one in the government calling out Leody Guzman for his obvious communist sympathies? Surprisingly one Presidential candidate has called out another Presidential candidate for their alleged connection to the CPP-NDF-NPA.
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| https://twitter.com/iampinglacson/status/1500325771755225092 |
This is worrisome. A coalition government with the CPP/NPA/NDF will set back the gains of the government’s efforts to end the country’s decades-old insurgency problem.
Remulla claimed he knows the organizers of the events and who mobilized the attendees to the campaign rally.The students who attended the campaign rally also looked like activists, said the congressman.“Ang dami nilang mga estudyante, mukhang mga aktibista… Kaliwa, mga trained ng NDF (National Democratic Front)… May dalang mga bandera pero pink,” he said.(A lot of students were there and they looked like activists. They look like from the left, trained by the NDF… They carried pink banners.)
They looked like trained NDF activists. LOOKED! What a baseless allegation and more anti-Robredo propaganda. Meanwhile Ka Leody actually does support the CPP-NDF-NPA and no one is saying a word.
With the NPA threat decreasing Senator Lacson says the Philippines should focus on the West Philippine Sea.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168926 |
"(The threat from insurgency, let’s say from the NPA, is getting smaller or being reduced. More areas in the Philippines have their (insurgency) problems lessened, not like back in the day)," he said in a statement.
With the internal threats posed by communist rebels now reduced, Lacson said there is now a need to enhance the technical ability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Lacson, also chairperson of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation, said the Philippine Navy could also use more modern arms, equipment, and ships to patrol the seas, especially the country’s territories in the WPS that are being claimed by China.
Lacson previously said he is open to a joint venture with other countries to explore the energy resources such as oil and natural gas in the WPS.
He said the country is not limited to just having a dialogue with China on the matter, as many other nations are interested to help the Philippines on this.
Lacson also insisted that the country assert its rights in the WPS by enhancing its presence in the contested region, initially by sending more people like research teams and scientists to Pagasa Island, which Lacson and Partido Reporma officials visited last November.
The government should also improve its facilities in its WPS outposts such as Pagasa to improve the country’s surveillance and security of our territories there, he added.
The other threat facing the Philippines is the continuing Islamic insurgency in Mindanao. Depsite the Marawi siege which reduced the number of Muslim fighters the threat of ISIS persists. This week the AFP engaged them in Lanao del Sur.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168959 |
Military officials said Thursday a possible terror plot has been averted with the fall of the Dawlah Islamiya - Maute Group (DI-MG) lair in Lanao del Sur.
Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario Jr., Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, said the troops have recovered a total of 22 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and several anti-personnel mines that could be used in launching terror attacks.
“Our troops averted and countered possible desperate attacks employed by the DI to inflict casualties not only to government troopers but even the innocent civilians,” Rosario said.
He said the troops have recovered the remains of seven Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-inspired DI-MG members while scouring the vicinity of the fallen lair in Barangay Ilalag, Maguing, Lanao del Sur.
Also recovered were a total of 45 assorted high-powered firearms that included three .50-caliber machineguns, two M60 machineguns, a .30 caliber machinegun, six rocket-propelled grenade launchers, six improvised sniper rifles, five kilos of shabu, bomb-making components, improvised explosive mixer, a computer, mobile phones, hand-held radio, ISIS flag, and propaganda materials.
The lair of the DI-MG led by Faharudin Hadji Satar alias Abu Zacariah fell into the hands of the government troops following hours of firefight Tuesday that was preceded by an airstrike at dawn. The lair can accommodate 100 persons.
Abu Zacariah is the new emir of ISIS in Southeast Asia. He replaced Owayda Benito Marohombsar alias Abu Dar, who was killed together with three other DI-MG terrorists in a clash with government troops in March 2019.
The AFP claims that ISIS is planning to create havoc during Ramadan and the elections.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/regions/823775/daulah-maute-plotting-to-create-havoc-on-elections-ramadan-military-official/story/ |
Members of Daulah Islamiyah - Maute Group are reorganizing in Lanao del Sur to plot attacks during the election period and Ramadan, a military official said Thursday.
In a radio interview, Brigadier General Jose Maria Cuerpo II, commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade said it is the same group that the military has been pursuing in Maguindanao.
(They moved here in Lanao del Sur, which baffled us. It turned out that they have plans for Ramadan and the elections)
In a statement of the Western Mindanao Command, Cuerpo said the supposed terror group led by Abu Zacariah, allegedly the new emir of ISIS in Southeast Asia, is “planning to create havoc” during these occasions.
“We received a report that the remaining members of Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group in Lanao provinces and Daulah Islamiyah-Hassan Group from Maguindanao are reorganizing in the target area hence the conduct of close air support followed by the combat operations,” he said, referring to the military's operation in Maguing town.
Why did this move baffle the AFP? Are they not keeping up-to-date with ISIS' presence in the Philippines? Do they think there is no threat because their numbers are low? If so that attitude is very problematic.
The BARMM had a strange response to the AFP conducing air stirred in Lanao del Sur to root out ISIS. They said it was MILF territory and involved MILF forces.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1562508/bangsamoro-chief-to-military-its-not-terrorists-haven-but-milf-territory |
The head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Wednesday that the area being targeted by the military in their air assault in Maguing, Lanao del Sur, is not a “haven of terrorists” but a territory of the MILF.
Bangsamoro Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim, chair of the MILF who signed a peace deal with the government that eventually led to the setting up of the expanded autonomous region in Mindanao, issued a statement saying that the position targeted by the government for aerial bombardment that started at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, March 2, was MILF territory, hence covered by the agreement between the government and the former rebel group.
Ebrahim, however, did not specify whether the three alleged members of the Islamic State-linked Daulah Islamiyah killed during the assault were MILF members.
“Our dear constituents in Maguing, Lanao del Sur have been troubled (by the) military airstrikes and most recently, the firefight that involved members of the military and forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” said Ebrahim in a statement. “As of this writing, the incident has claimed lives and has forced some of our constituents to flee their homes and find shelters in nearby areas,” he added.
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