AFP chief’s statement on monitoring Islamic schools draws brickbats from Muslim leaders

KORONADAL CITY—The country’s biggest Muslim religious organization on Tuesday (Oct. 20) slammed a statement attributed to the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) supposedly calling for monitoring of Islamic schools nationwide following intelligence reports that these were being used as breeding ground for terrorists.

Ebrahim Ismael, board member of the National Ulama Cooperation of the Philippines (NUCP), told the Inquirer that AFP Chief Gen. Gilbert Gapay’s statement would only complicate the relationship between civilians and the security sector.

Ismael said it was “wrong to say” that Islamic schools were being used to recruit terrorists. “I am a product of madrasah and extremism was not taught to us,” said Ismael, referring to Islamic schools.

“Militants who operate Islamic schools may be using it, but Islamic schools, in general, are not,” he added.

Aleem Solaiman, deputy chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), described Gapay’s statement as irresponsible and which should not be tolerated as it would just generate animosity between Muslims and Christians.

“We refuse to accept the irresponsible and hateful statement,” Solaiman said. “I can attest to the fact that terrorism was never and has never been taught in its slightest forms in the madrasah,” he added.

Uztadz Hakimi Dimakuta, a prominent Muslim religious leader in Lanao, also questioned Gapay’s statement. “I learned how to be a good citizen and how to deal with my fellow Christians,” he said, recalling his time as a madrasah student.

Last week, Gapay said the security sector would monitor Islamic schools to prevent infiltration by Islamic State. Internet-savvy IS propagandists, Gapay said, had been enticing children to terror-related content through social media.

“We are now strengthening and enhancing our program as far as prevention, when encountering violent extremism,” Gapay said.

He said the AFP is now coordinating with the Department of Education in “looking into different schools, particularly in Sulu and other parts of Mindanao.”

“This is one of the institutions or areas where recruitment occurs,” he said.

“We are looking at how the youth are being recruited and radicalized,” he said.

He said the military found that some terror suspects who surrendered and had been captured, “quite a number of them,” had been “recruited and radicalized through social media.”

In March, the police chief of Manila apologized to Muslim leaders after his department drew flak for its plan to collect the names of Muslim students in high school and college, a move that critics branded as religious profiling.

The Manila police memorandum, which was leaked to the media, was called off amid criticism that police in the capital of the predominantly Catholic country were singling out students from the Muslim minority.

TSB