JI, MILF and the Bangsamoros who strive towards Jihad

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Zambo airport blast connected with global jihad?

Ron Gagalac made a starling discovery---that Reynaldo Apilado, the one who was believed responsible for the Zambo blast, was with two other individuals prior to the incident. These two individuals, one of them a certain Harun, are believed to be extremists. Now, it is uncertain if Apilado, was, himself, an extremist. Sources tell NPR that Apilado was probably a Muslim revert. Harun died while the other person is still unaccounted for.

Curiously, the bomb blast in Zambo precipitated other bombing incidents that day and the succeeding days. Was the blast connected with the current global jihad?

Traditionally, August and September are months where an increase in terrorist activities is usually noticeable. These are months prior to the Ramadhan, the holy month for pious Muslims.

A deeper investigation must be made and this should likewise be undertaken by all agencies concerned, not just local, but international. These deviants should be re-indoctrinated to the true path of Islam.

A deeper discussion in my next entry.

Part 2: The Arlyn dela Cruz Kidnapping

In Part two of the interviews, Philippine journalist Arlyn dela Cruz talks about the root causes of the Sulu problem. She explains why people in Jolo continues to defy government forces in their island province.

Arlyn talks from experience, she having covered Sulu since the beginning of the Abu Sayyaf Group or the Al Harakatul Al Islamiyah. Arlyn explains that those Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members are doing propaganda campaigns to highlight the sad plight of the Tausugs, the majority group in Jolo, Sulu.

For centuries, Bangsamoros have been fighting for a separate homeland. Tausugs are part of this Bangsamoro homeland. In the 1970s, a young Tausug professor by the name of Nur Misuari established the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). This force grew and led the anti-Marcos armed rebellion in the South which killed hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. In the 1990s, Misuari entered into negotiations with the Ramos administration. Some parts of Mindanao were turned into the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). ARMM was an experiment in self-government.

Lack of support, scarcity of funds and unfulfilled promises from the national government weakened the ARMM. With the weakening of ARMM, Islamic dissident groups reinvigorated the Bangsamoro movement in Mindanao. A branch from the MNLF broke off and became what is now known as the ASG or the Abu Sayyaf Group (formal name Al Harakatul Al Islamiya or the Bearers of the Sword).

The ASG was founded by an USTADZ, an Islamic scholar named Abdurajak Janjalani, who fought side by side with the Afghans in the Afghan-Russia war. When the Russians were annihilated, Janjalani went back to his native Bangsamoro land and formed the ASG, along with some Muslim engineers and Islamic scholars.

The elder Janjalani was killed by police in Zamboanga, believed to have been betrayed by a Muslim convert, Edwin Angeles (also killed in Zamboanga City). The brother of Janjalani assumed the leadership and led the ASG's most famous hostage capers. He has since been killed by government forces, along with original ASG members such as Commander Robot, Commander Abu Sabaya and others. Only Dr. Abu remains.

ASG has a new emir by the name of Yasser Igasan, a staunch believer of Islam and a very religious man. Igasan is said to have assumed the leadership of the group and made it closer with the regional terror group, Jemaah Islamiyah.

Arlyn dela Cruz saw the birth of the ASG and was there as a close spectator when it grew into what it is now---the most feared, and the most dreaded jihadist group in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Terrorism being used by Arroyo for political purposes

Now, my fears have been validated. The desperate Arroyo administration is using the terrorism bogey to deflect its political woes. That's the problem of having an administration like this. How can you now believe the seriousness of their anti-terror campaign when its quite obvious that factotums and slum-bags of this government is using every Muslim cadaver that they can find to make "papogi" (beautify) before the international community! A regional anti-terror expert Sidney Jones does not believe that a cadaver exhumed in Tawi-Tawi is that of Dulmatin. We are also not in a position to really determine if that body is indeed that of Dulmatin, but even if it was, look at the lame reaction of the people. Nothing! Even the US government doubts the authenticity of the government's claim that it was indeed the terror leader's body.

This is the effect of having a beleaguered government leading the fight against terrorism in this country. Reputation and integrity are two of the most important things that every government needs to really and seriously lead the fight against terror.

I believe it is in the best interest of countries like the United States and Britain to support moves to oust or replace this government. As I wrote in previous blogs, this administration remains as the weakest link to the fight against terror in the region. This government is just good in terrorizing its citizens; it is helpless in really combatting the spread of terrorist ideology in its territory.

It is time for the US to really convince Arroyo to step down. A stronger government is needed to really counter terrorism in the Philippines. Without this, it would be very hard for the global community of nations to claim victory over Jemaah Islamiya or ASG or Al Qaeda because there's one very weak link in the fight against terrorism.