Solon calls for intel task force amid ISIS threat

Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Muntinlupa Representative Rodolfo Biazon called for the creation of an intelligence task force to prevent the alleged recruitment of Filipinos by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

In a press conference Tuesday, Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief, said the government should not ignore reports that the terrorist group is recruiting Filipinos.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose had cited unverified information that at least 100 Filipinos trained in Iran before they went to Syria. Two Filipino militants reportedly fought with Syrian ISIS forces and were later killed.

“We cannot ignore these reports. And that’s the reason why I am proposing for the organization of an intelligence task force from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, from the Philippine National Police, from the NBI, and from other such connections, such as the Interpol, to check these reports,” said Biazon, who chairs the House of Representatives national defense and security committee.

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte had also confirmed that some of his constituents were recruited by the terrorist group, known as being behind the brutal beheading of two western journalists.

Biazon said the task force seeks to prohibit the supposed recruitment by the ISIS on Filipinos.

“All efforts by that intelligence task force that I am proposing should be to suppress the possible recruitment of the ISIS among Filipinos… I am proposing that there should be an intelligence task force from the AFP, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Coast Guard, etc. We need to know these so that we can suppress if there’s really an attempt of the ISIS to recruit Filipinos,” Biazon said.

The former military chief cited the experience in the bandit group Abu Sayyaf, whose origins started when they joined Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden in fighting the Russians during the Afghanistan war.

“When the Afghan War was finished in 1989, those Filipinos who joined the war against Afghanistan imbued with the fundamentalism of the Al Qaeda came back to this country. And what happened? The Abu Sayyaf was born. And up until today, they are still is giving us problems,” Biazon said.

Biazon expressed fears that the reported recruitment may be a cause to derail the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a former Muslim secessionist group which signed a peace deal with the government.

“These young men who might have been recruited by the ISIS already and they come back here, what kind of problem they are going to give to us? Not only the government of the Republic of the Philippines but including the government that may be set up in the Bangsamoro when the Bangsamoro structure is finally set in place,” Biazon said.

The peace deal seeks to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with the Bangsamoro political entity, which will have its own political autonomy but is not a state within a state.

“I hope this does not affect the ongoing peace process. I hope it will not end up in some future time if there are Filipinos already recruited by the ISIS they do not come back here and give us the same problem as the Abu Sayyaf has given us and maybe in a more brutal way,” Biazon said.

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