Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Tuesday said the $5-million, or roughly P250 million, bounty for slain Islamic State (IS)-Maute Group leader Isnilon Hapilon would likely be handed to an unnamed woman who helped military forces locate the terrorist leader for the final kill.
The defense chief said the reward money should go to the hostages if only for the government to commiserate with their ordeals during their prolonged period captivity.
Lorenzana’s statement was in reaction to the question on who should get the separate P10-million and P5-million bounties from the Department of the Interior and Local Government for Hapilon and Omar Maute.
Hapilon, the leader of the Islamic State in Southeast Asia, also carried a reward of $5 million from the US government for his neutralization.
Lorenzana said the reward money should go to the rescued hostages if only to minimize the sufferings they have endured during their captivity by Hapilon and his group.
He noted that a woman, who was among the rescued hostages, was the one who provided the information by disclosing the building where Hapilon and Maute were holed out.
Lorenzana said the military and the police are “prevented from taking rewards because, as state forces, it is their duty to go after enemies of the state.”
New targets
The military, meanwhile, has set its focus on Malaysian jihadist Dr. Mahmoud Ahmad, who is expected to take on the mantle of leadership of IS in Southeast Asia, following the slaying of Hapilon.
The military, however, believe that Ahmad’s leadership would only be brief should he take on the role with the relentless and sustained military operation against him.
The death of Hapilon and Omar Maute have prompted President Duterte to declare on Tuesday that Marawi has been “liberated” from the clutches of the IS-Maute Group.
Lorenzana said Ahmad, being the recruiter and conduit of money for the IS in Southeast Asia, could possibly succeed Hapilon, but his role could be brief amid a military manhunt.
Both Lorenzana and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año believed that the Malaysian is still holed out in the area that is being cleared by the soldiers in the city.
At the start of the Marawi City rebellion in May and up to the death of Hapilon, Ahmad was reported to have been the most eligible successor of the slain IS leader, whom he joined in the foray in Marawi.
On Monday military Spokesman Major Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr. said the operation against the terrorists is not over yet even with the killings of Hapilon and Maute, as they still have to account at least two “high-value targets,” including Ahmad.
He said the operation will continue until the Malaysian and the other leader have been accounted for or neutralized.
Año said Ahmad is joined by eight other Malaysians and Indonesians in the battle zone.
Meanwhile, Lorenzana said the IS threat in the country remains despite the end of the Marawi City siege, owing to the existence of the group’s cells in other parts of Mindanao.
He said these cells are in existence in Basilan, Sulu and Zamboanga provinces.
Earlier, Año said that the military will fully shift its focus to the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Basilan, Sulu and Central Mindanao, respectively, after the end of the military operations in Marawi.