TERRORISM

What is terrorism?
 the use of terror and violence to
intimidate (Webster’s Dictionary)

 is defined as the use of fear to pressure

a person or a community to act
contrary to reason (Current Issues
Third Edition)
 PHILIPPINE ISLAMIC
MILITANT GROUPS

 Abu Sayyaf

 Moro National Liberation Front

 Moro Islamic Liberation Front

MORO NATIONAL LIBERATION
FRONT

More immediate causes of insurgency

rose out of the increasing lawlessness in
the southern Philippines during the late
1960’s when violence associated with
political disputes, personal feuds and
armed gangs proliferated.
 Already in competition over land,
economic resources and political power,
the Moros became increasingly alarmed
by the immigration of Christians from
the north who were making Moros a
minority in what they felt was their own
land.
MORO NATIONAL LIBERATION
FRONT

 September 21, 1972 - Martial Law was

declared in the Philippines
- the government
attempted to disarm the Muslims
which provoked an open rebellion
Nur Misuary
- guided the MNLF as the chairman
- believed that the Moro
constituted a separate people which
was the BangsaMoro
- claimed that the Muslims can only
free themselves from corrupt leaders
and implement institutions in an
independent state
 Moro National
Liberation Front received
support from Muslim
backers in Libya and
Malaysia.
 EMERGENCE OF THE ABU
SAYYAF
 1991 - a radical group which disagreed
with the peace process between the
Muslims and the State left MNLF and
formed the Abu Sayyaf (ASG)

 Abu Sayyaf means “bearer of the

sword” in Arabic
Main Goal:

 To establish an Iranian style of

Islamic state based on the Islamic
law in Mindanao
Who are the Abu Sayyaf Group?
 Is based mainly in southern
Philippines (Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-
tawi) but has ties to a number of
Islamic fundamentalist organizations
around the world including Osama Bin
Laden’s Al Qaida and Ramzi Yousef
Abduragak Abubakar Janjalani
- founder and leader of the Abu Sayyaf
- was a veteran of the war in
Afghanistan
- was killed in December 1998 in a
firefight with police in the village of
Lamitan, Basilan Island
- Khadafy Janjalani took over as the
new leader of the group
Abu Sayyaf finances its operation
through the following:


robbery
 piracy

 kidnappings for ransom

 funding from the international

terrorist network of Osama Bin Laden

Abu Sayyaf activities include:

 bombings

 assassinations and extortions from

companies and wealthy
businessmen
 CHRONOLOGY OF ABU
SAYYAF’S TERRORISM
ACTIVITIES
1991: Libyan-trained Islamic preacher,
Abdurajak Janjalani formed ASG
attracting young Muslims
First recorded atrocity was the
attack of the military checkpoint in
Sumagdan on the outskirts of Isabela,
Basilan
1992: Bomb attacks in Zamboanga and
Davao City; Abducted a businesswomen in
Davao and was released after payment of
ransom

1993: Kidnapped Luis Ton-Ton Biel (5 yrs.

old) with his grandfather who was an owner
of a bus company in Basilan
1994: Kidnapped Charles Walton, an
American language scholar who was doing
research in Basilan but was released without
ransom through the intercession of the Libyan
ambassador to the Philippines

December 1994: ASG claimed responsibility

for an explosion aboard a Philippine Air Line
(one Japanese was killed and 10 were injured)
January 12, 1995: Linked to the plot to
assassinate Pope John Paul II who was
visiting Manila

April 14, 1995: Attacked the town of Ipil,

robbed banks, shut the people and set the
town on fire before leaving with several
hostages (54 were dead and hundreds were
wounded)
September 9, 1997: Kidnapped a German
business executive in Zamboanga City and was
released on December 26, 1997

March 26, 1998: Abu Sayyaf rebels threatened

to kill abducted Filipinos

December 18, 1998: Abdujarak Janjalani was

killed in a firefight with security forces in
Basilan
January 3, 1999: A grenade was lobbed into
a crowd watching firefighters putting out a
blaze in a neighborhood supermarket (10
were killed and 74 were injured)

March 20, 2000: 55 hostages which

Includes 22 school children, 5 teachers and
a priest were seized from two schools
April 23, 2000: Raided the Malaysian diving
resort and fled across the sea border to Jolo
with 21 tourists and resort workers

July 26, 2000: 18 injured in Jolo Island from

grenade attack

August 28, 2000: American Jeffrey Schilling

was held hostage during a visit to Janjalani
camp
September 10, 2000: Kidnapped 3 people
from Pandanan Island diving resort and were
brought to Sulu Island
April 12, 2001: Hostage Jeffrey Schilling was
rescued
May 27, 2001: Raided Dos Palmas Resort of
Palawan and seized 20 people including 3
Americans (a Christian missionary couple,
Martin and Gracia Burnham and Guillermo
Sobero)
June 1, 2001: Clashes between the
government troops and the kidnappers in
Tuburan, Basilan

June 2, 2001: ASG “Suicide Squad” took

over a hospital and the church in Lamitan,
Basilan and captured over 200 people as
hostage but 4 of them were able to escape
June 7, 2001: Abu Sabaya, spokeman of ASG
gave Manila a 72-hour deadline to bring former
Malaysian senator Sairin Horno and
businessman Yusuf as negotiators and
suspension of military operations against them;
ASG threatened to behead the American
hostages for failure to comply but former Pres.
Arroyo rejected the demand
Jume 11, 2001: Former Pres. Arroyo gave
in to the rebel’s demand for two Malaysian
negotiators when Abu Sabaya issued a final
2-hour deadline to behead the American
hostages. However, the government
continued offensive as the group seized 15
more Filipinos in Basilan as a
“diversionary” strategy
June 12, 2001: ASG claimed the beheading of
American hostage, Guillermo Sobero, as an
Independednce Day gift to Pres. Arroyo.
Government troops found 3 bodies including 2
headless corpses identified as Filipinos

June 16, 2001: The rebels freed Kimberly Jao

Uy and Francis Ong to the Islamic preacher at
Isabela, Basilan in exchange of 5 million pesos
January 19, 2002: The military rescued 2
coconut farmers kidnapped by a faction
of ASG but 2 navy men were wounded
in a firefight with a bigger group

January 24, 2002: Firefight broke

between Philippine troops and ASG.
Eight of the ASG were killed and two
soldiers were wounded
 BALIKATAN 02.1
 is the code name for the joint US-RP military
training exercises in southern Mindanao and
Balanced Piston in northern Luzon under the
Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)
 is intended to make the exercises training
scenarios more realistic and relevant to the
actual perceived threats to both countries that
is, the worldwide threat of terrorism under
the VFA
 MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION
FRONT
 is most active in Sulu archipelago,
Palawan, Basilan and other neighboring
islands
 was established in 1981 when Salamat
Hashim and his followers split from the
MNLF due to the MNLF's reluctance to
launch an insurgency against the
Philippine government and its supporters
HISTORY
In January 1987, the MNLF accepted
the Philippine government's offer of semi-
autonomy of the regions in dispute,
subsequently leading to the establishment
of the
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM). The MILF, however, refused to
accept this offer and continued their
insurgency operations.
 A general cessation of hostilities between
the government in Manila and the MILF was
signed in July 1997 but this agreement was
abolished in 2000 by the Philippine Army under
the administration of Philippine President Joseph
Estrada. In response, the MILF declared a jihad
against the government, its citizens and
supporters. Under President Gloria Arroyo, the
government entered into a cease-fire agreement
with the MILF and resumed peace talks.
 Despite peace negotiations and the
cease fire agreement, the MILF attacked
Government troops in Maguindanao
resulting in at least twenty-three deaths in
January 2005. The combined armies of the
MILF and Abu Sayyaf were involved in days
of fighting which necessitated government
troops using heavy artillery to engage rebel
forces.
 The bombing incident in Davao airport in
2003 which the Philippine government blamed
on MILF members, raised speculation that the
peace negotiations might be ineffectual in
bringing peace to Mindanao if the MILF is
unable to control its operatives. The MILF
denies ties with terrorist group Jemaah
Islamiyah, although Jemaah Islamiyah is
considered to have provided them with training
facilities in areas they control.
 The MILF also continues to deny
connections with Al-Qaeda, though it has
admitted to sending around 600 volunteers
to Al Qaeda training camps in
Afghanistan and that Osama Bin Laden
sent money to the Philippines, though the
group denies directly receiving any
payment.
 Peace Agreement:
Tripoli Agreement
- a peace talk which led to an
agreement between the Philippine
government and the MNLF providing
for Moro autonomy in the southern
Philippines and for a cease-fire
 HOBBES POLITICAL AND
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
Thomas Hobbes
- is an English philosopher who preferred
the evils of absolute power than to the
evils of life in a society, which did not
contain an authority
- believes that “a sovereign without
absolute power to enforce laws is no
sovereign at all”
 He was asked with a
question: “Why should a
society without an absolute
authority necessary be
chaotic?”
He answered that it depends upon a
psychological theory about the nature
of man. His view is that man by nature
is selfish and egoistic. He is motivated
by selfish desires, which require
satisfaction, if man is also, by nature,
belligerent. He has the inclination to
be warlike, hostile and combative.
According to him, psychological
constitution of man is dominated by
three major desires:
 Competition

 Diffidence or distrust of one’s own

ability or worth
 Glory or the desire of fame, honor and
superiority
On the form of government, he preferred a
monarchial type because of the following
reasons:
 With the monarch as the sovereign ruler,
decisions and enforcing laws rest only on one
person
 A single ruler has more secrecy of counsel than a
sovereign group composed of individuals who
have different political and social orientation
 The monarch’s decisions are “only as inconstant
as human nature, but a group has that plus the
inconstancy of number”
 MILL’S POLITICAL AND
PHILOSOPHY

John Stuart Mill

- is an English philosopher and
economist author of the classic essay,
“On Liberty”, which emphasized civil
liberty
Political thinkers believe that some
dangers to freedom are more
insidious which come from with
democracy itself

example: POWER
 With the development of democratic
societies, political theorists refused to accept
the position that the ruler’s interest was
opposed to that of the people. The ruler, in
their view, was a representative of the people
and his authority was revocable at their
pleasure. Since the rulers are delegates of the
ruled, it is not important to limit their power.
To do so, is limiting the power of the
people themselves.
 Mill’s stressed that the people who
exercise power are not the same as those
on whom it is exercised. They not only
develop their own interests but they also
are frequently influenced by various
pressure groups to work their welfare,
which is contrary to the welfare of the
people.
 Mills argues that public
opinion is notoriously
susceptible to error because
it may reflect prejudices and
be dominated by
superstitions and traditions.
 3 reasons why it would be wrong
to suppress any opinion:
 It is wrong to suppress an opinion which the
majority does not approve of because the
suppressed opinion may be true.
 To deny others the right to express opinion is
to assume one’s infallibility.
 Hearing the opposite opinion even if it is
neither wholly true nor wholly false is good
for it may contain elements of the truth.