The US State Department has designated again the Maoist communist and Daesh-linked militant groups as terrorist organizations and said the organization’s terrorist activity threatens the security of US national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests.
The state department's counter-terrorism bureau listed the Communist Party of the Philippines' armed wing, the New People's Army, and the Abu Sayyaf group, based in the Philippines among the 58 foreign militant organizations linked to terror activities the past year.
Based on a report posted on website http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2015/257523.htm, the groups were chosen based on legal Criteria for designation under the amended Section 219, as defined in section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The CPP/NPA, a Maoist group, was first put on the list as a terrorist organization by the US State department in August 9, 2002. It was formed in March 1969 with the aim of overthrowing the government through protracted guerrilla warfare.
NPA’s founder, Jose Maria Sison, reportedly directs CPP/NPA activity from the Netherlands, where he lives in self-imposed exile. Luis Jalandoni, a fellow Central Committee member and director of the CPP’s overt political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF), also lives in the Netherlands.
Few days after the May 9, 2016 elections, Rodrigo Duterte, now the newly-elected president, said Sison would be welcome to return home to participate in peace talks.
The comments raised hopes of ending the 47-year-old insurgency, one of Asia's longest, which has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives since the 1960s.
Sison, speaking to Manila reporters at a news conference via Skype, added that Philippine government and rebel emissaries were set to meet in Norway from mid-June to lay the groundwork for formal peace talks.
Sison, now 77, fled to Europe soon after Philippine peace talks failed in 1987 and has stayed abroad since, while the insurgency continued to claim thousands of lives.
Duterte has maintained ties with Sison, his former university professor, while the latter has lived in exile in the Netherlands.
Sison said his homecoming was contingent on the Oslo talks producing a ceasefire, as well as Duterte releasing jailed comrades, which the rebel group said currently numbered 543.
Duterte, 71, whose government will officially begin its term on June 30, has named two allies of the rebel group as prospective members of his cabinet, and pledged to free ailing or ageing communist rebels ahead of formal peace talks.
Sison warned the rebels will continue their attacks against government forces until a ceasefire is struck.
Outgoing President Benigno Aquino revived peace talks soon after taking office in 2010 but shelved them in 2013, accusing the rebels of insincerity in efforts to achieve a political settlement.
The talks broke down after the communists demanded the release of scores of their jailed comrades, which the Aquino government rejected.
Sison said the rebels want "democratic reforms that would lead to national industrialization and genuine land reform", as well as the removal of US military forces from Philippine territory.
The US State Department says "Although primarily a rural-based guerrilla group, CPP/NPA has an active urban infrastructure to support its terrorist activities and, at times, uses city-based assassination squads."
According to the report, the CPP/NPA primarily targets Philippine security forces, government officials, local infrastructure, and businesses that refuse to pay extortion, or “revolutionary taxes.
"The group has a history of attacking U.S. interests in the Philippines. In 1987, for example, CPP/NPA conducted direct actions against U.S. personnel and facilities, killing three American soldiers in four separate attacks in Angeles City," it says.
The US State department said the CPP-NPA has had a "long history of attacking US interests in the Philippines," citing four separate operations in Angeles City that killed three American soldiers.
Communist rebel negotiator Fidel Agcaoili gestures during a rare news conference Thursday, June 2, 2016 in Quezon City, Philippines said communist guerrillas will demand an end to US military presence in the Philippines as the insurgents and the government of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte brace to resume long-stalled peace talks.
This after Duterte expressed interest in reviving long-stalled peace talks with the CPP, even offering them positions in his Cabinet.
The left-leaning organization said Thursday, however, that it will demand an end to US military presence in the country if it were to forge a pact with the government.
The Philippines government estimates CPP-NPA membership to be about 4,000. The State department, meanwhile, also said that the CPP-NPA raises funds through extortion and theft.
"Over the past few years, CPP/NPA has continued to carry out killings, raids, kidnappings, acts of extortion, and other forms of violence primarily directed against security forces," the US State Department report says.
In May 2013, the Armed Forces of the Philippines reported that from 2011 through the first quarter of 2013, 383 people, including 158 civilians, were killed in encounters between CPP/NPA and government forces.
It also states despite a ceasefire with the Government of the Philippines in December 2014, CPP/NPA continued to carry out attacks, including setting fire to construction equipment and a vehicle, abducting a jail warden, and shooting and killing three unarmed military-affiliated individuals.
The Philippine government estimates there are 4,000 CPP/NPA members operating in Rural Luzon, Visayas, and parts of northern and eastern Mindanao. There are also cells in Manila and other metropolitan centers, according to the report.
The CPP/NPA raises funds through extortion and theft. It was also said to be behind an attack on a Dole plantation in Bukidnon in January last year, burning down the facility and chopped down more than 700 banana trees. Dole is a multinational food company that started in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, the State department's report, similarly tagging the Mindanao-based Abu Sayyaf group as a terror group, dubbed it the "most violent terrorist group operating in the Philippines."
"[The Abu Sayyaf] claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago," the report says.
Remaining active since it was first placed on the list in 1997, the Abu Sayyaf was found to be behind road ambush incidents, abduction of locals and foreigners, extortion, public beheadings and assassinations.
In September 2015, the Abu Sayyaf was blamed for the armed abduction of two Canadians, a Norwegian, and a Filipino woman from the Holiday Oceanview Samal Resort on Samal Island.
Earlier this year, the group released a video showing its beheading of Canadian national John Ridsdel, earning the condemnation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It also beheaded a Malaysian hostage in November last year after demands for ransom were not met.
The report said the Abu Sayyaf poses a continuous threat to US interests, citing an oath of allegiance made by its senior ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon, also an FBI most-wanted terrorist, in a July 2014 video allegiance to ISIL and ISIL’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Besides the CPP-NPA and the Abu Sayyaf, another terror organization identified to be partly operating in the Philippines is the Jemaah Islamiyah, tagged in an attempt to carry out attacks during the visit of Pope Francis to Manila and Tacloban in January 2015.
The group is also found to operate in Indonesia and Malaysia. It was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997.
It is considered by the US as the most violent terrorist group operating in the Philippines and claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
The group split from the Moro National Liberation Front in the early 1990s. It has committed kidnappings for ransom, bombings, ambushes of security personnel, public beheadings, assassinations, and extortion.
In April 2000, an ASG faction kidnapped 21 people, including 10 Western tourists, from a resort in Malaysia. In May 2001, the group kidnapped three U.S. citizens and 17 Philippine citizens from a tourist resort in Palawan, Philippines; several hostages were murdered, including U.S. citizen Guillermo Sobero.
A hostage rescue operation in June 2002 freed U.S. hostage Gracia Burnham; her husband, U.S. national Martin Burnham was killed. In October 2002, Philippine and U.S. authorities blamed ASG for a bombing near a military base in Zamboanga that killed an American soldier, and in February 2004, ASG bombed SuperFerry 14 in Manila Bay, killing 116 people.
On July 28, 2014, ASG militants with assault rifles opened fire on civilians celebrating the end of Ramadan, killing at least 21 people – including six children and at least four members of a Talipao security force – and wounding 11 others.
ASG continued to remain active throughout 2015. On January 30, one soldier was killed and four were injured in a clash with ASG in Sulu. A day later, ASG ambushed a convoy of Philippine soldiers, wounding five.
In February, a 73-year-old Korean businessman was freed by the ASG in Lanao del Sur after 10 days in captivity. On May 15, ASG abducted two civilians at a resort in Sandakan. One hostage was released after six months; a Malaysian hostage, however, was beheaded after ransom demands were not met.
Also in May, ASG abducted two Philippine Coast Guard personnel and a city official in Aliguay Island, a tourist destination near Dapitan City; the city official was beheaded. On September 21, ASG was blamed for the armed abduction of two Canadians, a Norwegian, and a Philippine woman from the Holiday Oceanview Samal Resort on Samal Island.
ASG set the ransom at P300 million. In December, a Philippine military clash against 100 ASG fighters in Patikul left one solider dead and four wounded, and killed eight ASG members.
Earlier, Duterte vowed to work for the release of the remaining foreign nationals and a Filipina kidnapped by armed men from the Island Garden City of Samal still held captive by the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Duterte told reporters during a press conference in the southern city of Davao he already had his plans for the ASG but would only put it into action once he assumes the Presidency.
The group is estimated to have 400 members. It is primarily in the provinces of the Sulu Archipelago – namely Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi – and on the Zamboanga Peninsula. The group also conducted cross-border operations into eastern Malaysia.
ASG is funded through kidnapping for ransom operations and extortion, and may receive funding from external sources including remittances from supportive overseas Philippine workers and Middle East-based sympathizers.
In the past, ASG has also received assistance from regional terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiya (JI), whose operatives have provided training to ASG members and have helped facilitate several ASG terrorist attacks," the report said. MGP News
No comments:
Post a Comment