FILE: Abu Sayyaf stronghold captured by Joint Task Force Basilan in intensive military offensives. The Western Mindanao Command said Friday that the group is now torn down. Photo from CPIO WESTMINCOM
MANILA, Philippines — After more than three decades, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) has been finally dismantled, the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief said on Friday.
Westmincom Commander Lt. Gen. William Gonzales said only remnants of them have remained in the provinces of Sulu and Basilan.
READ: PH Army officially declares Sulu province Abu Sayyaf-free
“But the organization itself, we already dismantled them,” Gonzales said in a forum in Quezon City to mark the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which paved the way for the Bangsamoro autonomous government.
Gonzales stressed: “The all-high-value individuals, the leadership, we have all neutralized them.”
The official noted that only 14 remaining ASG members in Sulu “lay low,” while six individuals remain in Basilan.
He also said Wesmincom is negotiating with the ASG remnants and their families to urge the former to return to the folds of the law.
“It’s just a matter of time. We are just waiting for the parameters of the GHQ (General Headquarters) for us to formally declare in the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) that Abu Sayyaf is already dismantled,” he said.
A breakaway of the Moro National Liberation Front, the ASG was founded by Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani in 1991.
The first batch of ASG fighters only began surrendering in 2016, according to a paper published by the National Defense College of the Philippines.