The Philippines
The Spectre of Terrorism

The Philippines and Thailand seem to have failed to find viable ways to politically accommodate the Muslim minorities, which in turn may have fuelled the growth of extremism and terrorism in the region, opines G.V.C. Naidu

  On 13 November 2007 a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Philippine House of Representatives in Manila, killing three persons and injuring several others. Among those killed was Congressman Wahab Akbar, the main target of attack. Akbar had many political enemies; it may not necessarily have been a terrorist action.
   None the less, terrorism is a serious issue in the Philippines. From being confined to rural, southern islands earlier, it has now spread to major urban centres. This urban dimension was first noticed in December 2000, when a series of bombings took place in Metro Manila, leading to several fatalities and scores suffering serious injuries. It took the devastating events of 11 September 2001 and the subsequent ‘global war on terrorism’ led by the United States to assess the extent of terrorist networks in the South East Asian region. By the time the deadly Bali bombings took place in Indonesia in 2002 followed by several other similar incidents, it was concluded that South East Asia had become the second front of terrorism, next to the Pakistan–Afghanistan epicentre.
   The growth of violence and terrorism in South East Asia has historical and socio-economic roots. There principally used to be two types. One was communist-led armed rebellions in most countries strongly backed by external forces, mostly China. The second was ethnic-religious violence, which had roots in local grievances, with limited external involvement. Religion-inspired terrorism is recent and appears to be more enduring and, obviously, more worrisome.
   Regarding terrorism and Muslim radical groups in South East Asia, it is important to distinguish between traditional and modern terrorist activities. While earlier terrorism manifested itself at local levels revolving around local issues, modern terrorism is qualitatively different, with much larger political and ideological goals. It originated with developments in Afghanistan since the early 1980s and received a tremendous boost with the cataclysmic financial meltdown that hit South East Asia in 1997. Reverberations of this crisis, both political and social, were particularly far reaching in Indonesia. Radical Islamist groups took advantage of communal tensions in some parts of that country to spread their tentacles. A number of groups that used to operate at the local level also began to establish transnational linkages within the region and with outside organisations such as al-Qaeda. This networking is particularly visible in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. The Afghanistan–Pakistan imprint is seen all over the region. These groups have a larger regional goal now, of establishing a pan-Islamic state covering the vast majority of states in South East Asia where Muslims are in large numbers. How deeply they are entrenched in the region is, however, unclear.
   In the Philippines, claims are made by Moro people in the south that their ‘national liberation struggle’ bangsamoro or Moroland of Muslims is more than 400 years old, with roots in Spanish occupation of the Philippines in 1565 and the introduction of Christianity. The Moro separatist movement intensified after the independence of the Philippines in 1946. There had been a series of uprisings starting from the early 1950s. To deal with the problem, the government set up a Commission on National Integration to offer economic and other educational incentives to Muslims, but simultaneously encouraged Christians from the north to settle in southern Philippines.
   These policies further alienated the Muslims. Though they received considerable material and moral support from some neighbouring countries, they were marginalised. For instance, from 76% in the 1900s the population of Muslims in Mindanao declined to 20% in the 1990s.
   The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was in the forefront of the armed struggle against Manila. Libya initiated talks for a political settlement of the issue, which resulted in the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 providing for autonomy in the southern Philippines and for a cease-fire. But the truce broke down the following year. After several rounds of peace talks especially in the mid-1980s, an agreement was reached in 1996 to establish the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The MNLF, in its turn, agreed to cease its armed struggle.
   The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was a breakaway faction of the MNLF. Created in 1978, it advocated ‘total liberation’ of Moros. By 2005 its military arm, Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), had a strength of about 10,000 and operated in most regions of southern Philippines. This group is reported to have established links with extra-regional terrorist outfits such as al-Qaeda during the 1980s. Osama bin Laden’s close confidants are believed to have visited the Philippines to spread Islamic radicalism and to recruit several hundred fighters for al-Qaeda’s anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan. The MILF is also believed to have forged links with Jemaa Islamia, which perpetrated terrorist acts in Indonesia.
   The Abu Sayyaf Group is probably the least understood and more notorious for abduction for ransom. Formed in the early 1990s, it is the most radical. It is believed that Abu Sayyaf, MILF and JI work in close collaboration.
   The Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) is named after the last Muslim king in the Philippines. It comprises mostly recent converts and was started in the 1980s. The RSM’s principal objective is Balik Islam or Return to Islam. Their theory is that Islam was the only religion of the Philippines before the Spanish occupation and hence Filipinos should become Muslims.
   The government has declared the RSM and Abu Sayyaf to be terrorist organisations. MNLF and MILF have not been so labelled, probably to keep open the option of political settlement through negotiations. Some of these groups have been under pressure after several hundred American troops were stationed in the Philippines to help its armed forces deal with them. None the less, terrorist incidents especially in Manila have not abated.
   A major problem in South East Asia in general and the Philippines in particular has been the tendency to understate the problem of religious extremism. It took several high-profile terrorist acts, for instance, to grudgingly acknowledge its existence. Work on coordinating counter-terrorism activities has also been on a low key. Terrorism in this region is not simply a law-and-order issue nor merely a religious question. It has roots in history, socio-economic development policies, and political attitudes in those countries where Muslims are in a minority. Both the Philippines and Thailand seem to have failed to find viable ways to politically accommodate the Muslim minorities, which in turn may have fuelled the growth of extremism and terrorism in the region.

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