End of Abu Sayyaf seen by March 31

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The military has set a new deadline for ending the Abu Sayyaf, which has been notorious for its kidnap-for-ransom activities and its brutality to captives who failed to pay ransom.

“I am confident that we can dismantle the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) by March 31,” said Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command.

Sobejana noted that President Duterte had earlier set the deadline by December last year. “He set the timeline of Dec. 31, and we partially complied with the given target,” he said.

In 2019, he said “there was significant reduction of the strength of our adversary [Abu Sayyaf], of their manpower and firepower.”According to Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, the military was dealing with more than 300 bandits in 2019.

“Now, their formation is more or less 50,” he said.

New campaign plan

The security forces also managed to cut off the support system after they neutralized one of the top leaders, Abu Palha, a conduit between the international terror group Islamic State (IS) and the Abu Sayyaf. The Abu Sayyaf has pledged allegiance to IS.“With that partial fulfillment of the target set by the President, we have a new campaign plan, and we reassessed our efforts in running after the Abu Sayyaf, “ Sobejana said.

He said the new plan would require more troops to be deployed to Sulu. “But we are not necessarily leaving some vacuum in other areas of Western Mindanao,” he said.

The plan includes the active involvement of the civilian populace, he said. “Soldiers kill terrorists, civilians kill terrorism,” he said, citing an order that outlined the so-called “whole-of-nation” approach in eradicating terrorism.

Sobejana said he was optimistic they would be able to hit the March 31 target given the “degraded strength” of the Abu Sayyaf.

Robin Hood approach

The Abu Sayyaf enjoyed popularity in southern Philippines due to its seeming Robin Hood approach to the civilian populace. The loot they got from ransom payment was shared with the community, and this was the reason the soldiers were confronted with strong hostility among civilians in the past. “Before, the ASG was enjoying the support of locals, they are a little bit popular because of their Robin Hood style, sharing the bounty they get out of the ransom being paid,” Sobejana said.