Overview

Rich in natural resources, the Philippines has attracted continual attention of developed and industrialized countries – Spain, America, China, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia. While much of the northern region, Luzon, was converted to Catholicism, the remote southern areas have remained primarily Islamic. Spread over countless islands, inhabited by a variety of ethnic and religious groups, speaking over 80 languages, the Philippines is a challenging country to govern. 

The southern region of Mindanao remains a source of conflict, including designated terrorist organizations associated with the al-Qaeda network. Mindanao is home to over 5 million “Moros,” a loose affiliation of indigenous Muslim tribal groups, who have resisted growing influence and exploitation by Christian settlers, supported or favored by the national government. Moro resistance, organized in the 1950s, led by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) sparked the “Muslim insurrection” that led President Marcos to declare martial law.

After a peace deal was struck with the MNLF, breakaway factions continued the rebellion, including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Abu Sayyaf. In 2001, a new peace accord was established with the MILF, who subsequently renounced violence, leaving Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda affiliate as the only significant, active terrorist group. Recently, the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) has emerged as a new contestant and has been added to the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) by the US State Department.

Early settlers to the islands came by land bridge or boat from the areas now known as Borneo, Sumatra and Malaysia. Chinese traders arrived and settled in the ninth century A.D. and in the 14 century Arabs settlers arrived, introducing Islam to the island people. The Malays remained the dominant group until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century.

Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines and claimed it for Spain in 1521, and for the next 377 years, the islands were under Spanish rule, based in Manila. Spanish colonists set about converting the islanders to Catholicism. A nationalist revolt against Spanish rule led to independence from Spain in 1898, after American forces defeated the Spanish during the Spanish-American War. However, independence was short-lived. Following Admiral Dewey's defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, the United States occupied the Philippines. Spain ceded the islands to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1898).

Revolutionary President Aguinaldo, continued the bloody revolutionary struggle against the Americans, in what is now called the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). After Aguinaldo was captured the revolution collapsed, except in the remote southernmost regions of Mindinao and Sulu, where islanders resisted American influence as they had resisted Spanish influence. 

The “temporary” U.S. administration of the Philippines helped establish government institutions over three decades. In 1935, under the terms of the Tydings-McDuffie Act, the Philippines became a self-governing commonwealth. Manuel Quezon was elected president of the new transition government, paving the way for independence.

During World War II, the Japanese invaded the islands and in May 1942, drove the Americans out of the Philippines, in Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s famed escape from Corregidor, where he declared, “I will return.” During the occupation, thousands of Filipinos fought a running guerilla campaign against Japanese forces.

Gen. MacArthur returned in 1944, leading a massive US invasion force, with the Philippines became one of the major battlegrounds of WWII. Manila was devastated during the fighting and an estimated one million Filipinos lost their lives in the war, which ended with Japan’s surrender in 1945.

On July 4, 1946, the Philippine Islands became the independent Republic of the Philippines. American post-war assistance helped rebuild the Philippine government and economy, devastated by the war, while a communist rebellion broke out. After a series of uninspired or weak leaders, President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law in 1972, claiming as justification the ongoing communist rebellion. Like any good dictator, he suppressed democratic institutions and restricted civil liberties during the martial law period, ruling largely by decree, while fostering rampant corruption and favoritism, as the country became mired in economic decline.

The assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino in 1983 sparked a popular, but peaceful uprising that finally forced Marcos from power in 1986. President Corazon Aquino assumed power, while conflicts spread in outlying regions, due in part to the weakened central government. President Fidel Ramos replaced the embattled Aquino in 1992 on a platform of “national reconciliation,” with the country’s ever-troublesome communist insurgents, Muslim separatists, and military rebels.

The US withdrew from its military bases at Subic Bay and Clark Air Base in November 1992. In June 1994, President Ramos signed into law a general conditional amnesty covering all rebel groups, as well as Philippine military and police personnel accused of crimes committed while fighting the insurgents. In October 1995, the government signed an agreement bringing the military insurgency to an end.

In 1996, a peace agreement was signed with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), establishing an Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The Philippines government has continued its regular, but turbulent democratic election cycle, electing movie stars and impeaching corrupt leaders, while facing continuing threats from insurgents, separatists and terrorist organizations.

The Department of State has identified a number of terrorist organizations active in the Philippines, including: Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), and Jemaah Islamiyah group.

In August 2001, the government reached a cease-fire agreement with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and in June 2003, the MILF issued a formal renunciation of terrorism. An ensuing cessation of hostilities continues to hold, aided by an International Monitoring Team led by Malaysia. Talks between the two sides continue, with the Government of Malaysia acting as principal mediator.

Warfare between the government of the Republic of Philippines and the Bangsa Moro Army (the armed wing of the MNLF) claimed an estimated 60,000 lives and left over one million internally displaced persons. The separatist MNLF was fighting for independence from the Philippines.

The adversaries negotiated the Tripoli Agreement in 1976) which provided for regional autonomy for the “Moro territories,” amounting to about one-half of the claimed Moro homeland. Problems implementing the agreement led to continued, but lower level conflict. Subsequently, the MNLF spilt into factions over the issue of independence versus autonomy. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) added a religious dimension, calling for an independent “Islamic state.” 

The Abu Sayyaf Group

The Abu Sayyaf Group (Bearer of the Sword), organized in 1991 as a breakaway faction from MNLF, also demands an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. Abu Sayyaf’s founder, Abduragak Abubakar Janjalani, was a veteran mujahideen from the Afghanistan war against the USSR and was believed to be an associate of Usama bin Laden. The group’s current leader is thought to be Khadaffy Janjalani, who took over in 1998 after his brother, Abdurajak, was killed.

After the government and MILF agreed to a ceasefire in 2001, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) ratcheted up its violent attacks. In May 2001, ASG kidnapped 20 people, including 3 Americans, demanded a ransom and beheaded one American. In June 2002, U.S.-backed Philippine commandos tried to rescue the hostages; two were killed, but the American missionary was freed. In August 2002, ASG kidnapped six Filipino Jehovah’s Witnesses and beheaded two of them. In February 2004, ASG bombed a passenger ferry near Manila killing more than 100 people. ASG claimed responsibility for the 2005 Valentine’s Day bombings in Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City, which killed 8 and injured more than 150. Most of the individual ASG targets have been religious activists, undoubtedly seen by ASG as attempting to undermine Islam.

In 2002, the US sent 650 military personnel to assist the Philippine government forces track down and attack the ASG.

ASG is largely supported by Middle Eastern Islamic extremists, but also receives funding from regional terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiya (JI), which is based mainly in Indonesia. ASG raises money from of ransom and extortion. Libya publicly reported in 2000 that it paid millions of dollars for the release of the foreign hostages seized from Malaysia. It’s reported that JI operatives have provided training to ASG members and possibly planned or aided some of the ASG’s terrorist attacks.

Leaders of the MILF and MNLF have publicly denied any links with Abu Sayyaf and have criticized Abu Sayyaf’s terrorist attacks against civilians. However, the tenuous relations between the Philippine government and the MILF and MNLF raise the

possibility of shifting linkages among the three Muslim groups. Reports have surfaced of contacts and connections between the various Moro insurgent groups.

Related Resources:

www.MINDANAO.com
http://www.mindanao.com/blog/?m=200509

The Philippine Response to Terrorism: The Abu Sayyaf Group
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/manalo.pdf

Abu Sayyaf: Target of Philippine-U.S. Anti-Terrorism Cooperation (PDF), Congressional Research Service, January 25, 2002
http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL31265.pdf