Palace: ISIS allegedly eyeing Mindanao as stronghold a ’cause for concern’

MANILA, Philippines — The reported recruitment of international terror organization Islamic State (ISIS) in southern Philippines is a “cause for concern,” Malacañang said Tuesday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the remark in response to a New York Times report saying that the terror group, after losing its territory in Iraq and Syria, is now eyeing Mindanao as its new base for its so-called “East Asia province.”

“We should undertake measures to prevent that from happening,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

According to the report, the ISIS territory in Iraq and Syria, which was “once the size of Britain,” has shrivelled after four years of American-backed bombing.

“But far from defeated, the movement has sprouted elsewhere. And here in the Mindanao island group of the southern Philippines, long a haven for insurgents because of dense wilderness and weak policing, the Islamic State has attracted a range of militant jihadists,” it added.

President Duterte had earlier ordered government troops to annihilate terrorists and enemies of the state following the twin explosions at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu that killed at least 20 people and injured almost 100, an attack claimed by the ISIS terror group.

In 2017, the Maute Group, which had pledged allegiance to ISIS, took over the city of Marawi in Mindanao.

The five-month battle in the Islamic City left at least 900 militants killed, including foreign fighters and Isnilon Hapilon, the Islamic State’s East Asia emir. /je