ISIS comes to the Philippines

[Corzhens]

The Philippines, particularly the southern part that is inhabited by Muslims, is another target of ISIS which has officially recognized the oath of allegiance of the rebel groups (those fighting the Philippine government). It is not far fetched that a big part of the southern Philippines will be declared an ISIS province in the near future.



Read more:ISIS officially recognizes oath of allegiance from PH militant groups | Inquirer Global Nation

 

[ipm_zipedia]

That's frighteningly close to the West. I hope the US can pitch in and provide some counter-terrorism assistance if that's the case.

 

[Redheart]

The Philippines shouldn't make the same mistakes others made — ignoring ISIS — until they were strong enough to wage war in two countries and temporarily declare the land their seized to be a "Caliphate." Now that the rebel groups have sworn an oath of allegiance to ISIS obviously they'll try to break away but the government should do whatever they can to stop them because should they then the Philippines should be brace itself for a really long-drawn-out war against extremism.

 

[ipm_zipedia]

The Philippines shouldn't make the same mistakes others made — ignoring ISIS — until they were strong enough to wage war in two countries and temporarily declare the land their seized to be a "Caliphate." Now that the rebel groups have sworn an oath of allegiance to ISIS obviously they'll try to break away but the government should do whatever they can to stop them because should they then the Philippines should be brace itself for a really long-drawn-out war against extremism.

The Philippine fighting forces are well-backed with a lot of US's agreements I've heard, and I hope that they can walk out of the next few years with results.

 

[Valois1790]

I don't think there's too much to worry about on that front. Philippines is real close to more than one U.S. base (Japan, Korea) so both countries could react to it fairly quickly.

Not to mention with the financial crunch ISIS is feeling right now, they might not be able to offer much assistance to their branch in the Philippines.

But then again... You are right, zipedia, that is a bit closer to home than I'd/many of us would like.

 

[Falcon29]

@joshposh @Corzhens

Do you think the government can arm secular/moderate Muslims to take up the fight? And then the country can use some interfaith dialogue, if the problem is as bad as it seems. I always thought the Philippines was a safe country.

 

[djordjem87]

I haven't been watching the news lately. Been busy but I see it is not better than it was, on the contrary. American forces fighting against ISIS. We'll see how this ends up. It is terrible that this thing is spreading like a plague and ignoring is never a solution but I think it is not so easy to fight off something that is governed by stronger opponents. Maybe it's just me and my doubting in the U.S. peace intentions but it sounds way too hypocritical to me that they are helping against this threat.

 

[Corzhens]

@joshposh @Corzhens

Do you think the government can arm secular/moderate Muslims to take up the fight? And then the country can use some interfaith dialogue, if the problem is as bad as it seems. I always thought the Philippines was a safe country.

The government cannot do anything about the extremists except to depend on the Muslims themselves or on external intervention. The Muslim rebels are still at their game and the government's last ditch effort is to surrender by way of the so called BBL - Bangsamoro Basic Law - that would give the Muslims official authority and budget, just like being an autonomous state free from audit and police control. So at this juncture, I see the Philippine government like a helpless banana republic.

 

[Diane Lane]

Wow, that's a scary thought, @Corzhens. I have heard that the U.S. and Philippines are close and I have no doubt that we, as well as other countries would do what we could to protect our interests in the area. However, that usually comes after the country in question has taken steps to address the issue itself. When you say Muslim rebels, are you referring to ISIS, or the Muslim settlers who would like to repel ISIS invaders? Do y'all have any plans to leave the country, or are you far enough away that this won't have an impact on you?

 

[Corzhens]

@Diane Lane, the Muslim rebels are plain Muslims who banded in groups - there are many like MNLF, MILF, BIFF, Abu Sayyaf, etc - to air their grievances against the government and eventually became rebels. And now there are information talling that ISIS is courting some rebel groups. In the recent incident where Ayed al-Qarni, a Muslim cleric from the Middle East, was shot by suspected Islamic jihadists, ISIS had sent a message that it was a warning.

I am really confused with this Sunni thing. Cleric al-Qarni is Sunni and ISIS is Sunni but the cleric is in the hit list of ISIS.

 

[Falcon29]

@Diane Lane, the Muslim rebels are plain Muslims who banded in groups - there are many like MNLF, MILF, BIFF, Abu Sayyaf, etc - to air their grievances against the government and eventually became rebels. And now there are information talling that ISIS is courting some rebel groups. In the recent incident where Ayed al-Qarni, a Muslim cleric from the Middle East, was shot by suspected Islamic jihadists, ISIS had sent a message that it was a warning.

I am really confused with this Sunni thing. Cleric al-Qarni is Sunni and ISIS is Sunni but the cleric is in the hit list of ISIS.

ISIS sees him as a 'state cleric', a belief that such clerics adopt religious rulings that work in benefit of the government rather than for sake of a God or the religion itself, or the Muslims as a whole. And with this, it justifies it's attacks. ISIS does have a point when it comes to religious hypocrisy, but these people need to know violence brings nothing but negative consequences. Activism, social revolution, spreading ideas will bring about the results they want.

 

[Diane Lane]

Thanks @Corzhens and @Falcon29 for filling in the gaps of my knowledge. I think the government of the Philippines should have addressed the issue long before it reached this point, but it seems many countries are in the same boat. The issue has now grown so large that no one can ignore it, for fear we will all be lost.