Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday confirmed that Mindanao-
based terrorist groups, particularly the combined ISIS (an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and Maute Group, are on a recruitment binge, but assured the public that support for these groups is waning.
“They were recruiting, but we believe that our counter narrative is being strengthened, and we saw that there are lots of people, really even with the other groups of the BIFF and the Abu Sayyaf Group [ASG], the surrenderees are snowballing,” he said.
The BIFF is the terrorist group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, whose three factions have already ceded to form their own identity after pledging their allegiances or aligning themselves with the ISIS, which has formed its East Asia Division by way of Mindanao.
Galvez, who has been visible for the past days in Mindanao attending activities relating to the marking of the first year anniversary of the Marawi rebellion that devastated the Islamic capital, said that members of the terrorist groups, especially the ISIS and the Maute, are continuously yielding despite reports of recruitment.
“I believe that support for the Maute-ISIS is waning because we have 42 surrenderees already. Previously, we had 10 but after the President talked to them, the number went up to 42 surrenderees,” the chief of staff said.
He added the ongoing rehabilitation of Marawi and the close coordination between the military and the local officials in Lanao de Sur helped convince terrorists to surrender.
Reports said while the hardcore leaders of the ISIS and the Maute Group, including Isnilon Hapilon, the ISIS le ader in Southeast Asia, have been killed during the five-month Marawi battle last year, the leadership has been taken over by Abu Dar, who survived the
government operation.
Galvez, however, would not confirm the reports.
“Our intelligence unit in the general headquarters has yet to get a definite answer, so we have to still validate it. But as of now, we have no definite conclusion yet if he is already [the leader],” he said.
Galvez added Dar was the only survivor out of the 10 original planners of the Marawi siege.
Meanwhile, Galvez shrugged off criticisms about the continued implementation of martial law in Mindanao, saying the people in the area welcomes it.
Galvez said Mindanao needs martial rule as the government still has to collect thousands of loose firearms in the hands of civilians, which are being used to commit crimes and other illegal acts in the region.
“We still need to get 80 percent of the firearms. If we collected 6,000, that’s only, I believe, 10 percent…we need to get all the 80 percent of the firearms so that we will remove the possibility of these being used for lawlessness and criminalities,” he said.
But Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said the government’s defense in continuously implementing martial law in Mindanao “speaks of its militarist and ineffective approach in addressing the root causes of the social problems that spawned the armed conflicts in Mindanao and elsewhere.”