Philippines: MNLF Hardens Stance Toward Abu Sayyaf
| Publisher | Jamestown Foundation |
| Publication Date | 19 August 2016 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 17 |
| Cite as | Jamestown Foundation, Philippines: MNLF Hardens Stance Toward Abu Sayyaf, 19 August 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 17, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57bacb124.html [accessed 22 October 2022] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Link to original story on Jamestown website
Four members of the Southeast Asian militant group Abu Sayyaf were killed in the southern Philippines during a confrontation with members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on August 9. While the MNLF has worked with the military in the past on such operations, the recent clash appears not to have been coordinated with the authorities, although an army spokesman all but welcomed the news (The Philippine Star, August 10).
According to MNLF, those killed included mid-level Abu Sayyaf commander Jennor Lahab, sometimes known as Jim Dragon, and his son (Manila Times, August 11). The two were from an Abu Sayyaf faction led by Alhabsy Misaya, whose group is behind a series of kidnappings carried out in collaboration with criminal gangs, including one that ended in the brutal beheading of a Malaysian engineer (Asia Times, November 17, 2015; The Star [Malaysia], December 1, 2015). Lahab himself is suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of 10 Indonesian sailors, who were freed in May on payment of a ransom (The Philippine Star, May 1).
It is in this context that the clash seems to have occurred. The MNLF generally opposes Abu Sayyaf (which split from the group in the 1990s), and its chairman, Nur Misuari, vowed several years ago to prevent the group form using Sulu as a base for its kidnapping operations. The recent beheading of Canadian hostages John Ridsdel and Robert Hall by an Abu Sayyaf faction linked to Islamic State brought unwelcome international attention to the situation in the southern Philippines and appears to have reaffirmed the MNLF's resolve to stamp out the kidnapping operation (The Philippine Star, April 27; The Philippine Star, June 21).
The clash is also likely a response to recent calls from President Rodrigo Duterte - the Philippine's first president to hail from Mindanao, and himself an advocate of violent reprisals on criminals - for the MNLF (and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front) to explicitly reject Abu Sayyaf. Duterte himself has demonstrated a somewhat mixed attitude towards Abu Sayyaf in the past, but has come out strongly against IS.
At the same time, Duterte has taken steps to move forward on the stalled peace process in the southern Philippines, approving a roadmap put forward by Jesus Dureza, the presidential adviser on the peace process, which envisages massive on-the-ground development projects to boost the local economy. The MNLF will be loath to jeopardize such an opportunity, and a further bloody response to Abu Sayyaf may well be the result.
