‘Any show of defiance to the authority of the Republic should be met with state force and nipped in the bud at the first instance.’
THE Islamic State (IS) and its brand of violent, jihadist Islam is back and kicking in Mindanao, with the attack on Datu Paglas town in Maguindanao by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) last weekend.
It was reported that a couple of thousand of motorists, passengers and passers-by were stranded for hours along the Maguindanao-Cotabato boundary. This is because the main highway passing thru Datu Paglas to Tulunan town in Cotabato was closed to traffic starting from 4 a.m. on Saturday.
Witnesses have reported to the local and national media that around 200 BIFF fighters, armed with high-powered weapons and carrying the banner of the Kagi Karialan faction, occupied the town’s public market.
The vendors, buyers and other civilians inside the market had been detained while security forces were forced to surround the perimeter, completing what amounts to a standoff.
A certain Abu Jihad, a spokesman of the BIFF, said the gunmen who occupied the town’s public market belong to the Karialan faction but refused to say why they mounted the attack. A government employee told radio station DXND Radyo Bida that at least 200 vehicles were stranded along the highway, some being told by the police to turn back, amid the cracks of gunfire from a short distance.
The latest news from Mayor Abubakar Paglas of the municipality of Datu Paglas is that negotiations for the withdrawal of the BIFF fighters and the release of hostages unharmed are in progress, but this is hardly any consolation for a population which still remembers the horrors of Marawi City a few years back. Images of the horrific siege resurfaced as the armored personnel carriers of the 601st Infantry Brigade arrived. The military and the police both said that the use of force against the attackers was being considered.
This latest threat to national security should not be taken lightly by government authorities. This means that even after the ignominious defeat of the Maute gangsters in Marawi City, the Islamic State still holds on to the idea of establishing a caliphate branch in this part of Southeast Asia, where the Muslim faith had taken root.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines under its commander-in-chief, President Duterte, should handle this latest show of military muscle by the jihadists. This is more serious than the sporadic grenade and bomb-throwing attacks on churches and plazas in Mindanao, killing several soldiers, cops, and civilians.
Any show of defiance to the authority of the Republic should be met with state force and nipped in the bud at the first instance.
