Terrorist Organizations in the Republic
of the Philippines
Abu
Sayyaf Group (ASG)
The ASG is the most violent of the Islamic separatist
groups operating in the southern Philippines. Some ASG
leaders have studied or worked in the Middle East and
allegedly fought in Afghanistan during the Soviet war.
The group split from the Moro National Liberation Front
in the early 1990s under the leadership of Abdurajak Abubakar
Janjalani, who was killed in a clash with Philippine police
on 18 December 1998. His younger brother, Khadaffy Janjalani,
has replaced him as the nominal leader of the group, which
is composed of several semi-autonomous factions.
New
People's Army (NPA)
The military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP), the NPA is a Maoist group formed in March 1969
with the aim of overthrowing the government through protracted
guerrilla warfare. The chairman of the CPP's Central Committee
and the NPA’s founder, Jose Maria Sison, directs
all CPP and NPA activity from the Netherlands, where he
lives in self-imposed exile. Fellow Central Committee
member and director of the CPP’s National Democratic
Front (NDF) Luis Jalandoni also lives in the Netherlands
and has become a Dutch citizen. Although primarily a rural-based
guerrilla group, the NPA has an active urban infrastructure
to conduct terrorism and uses city-based assassination
squads. Derives most of its funding from contributions
of supporters in the Philippines, Europe, and elsewhere,
and from so-called "revolutionary taxes" extorted
from local businesses.
Jemaah
Islamiya (JI)
Jemaah Islamiya is an Islamic extremist group with cells
operating throughout Southeast Asia. Recently arrested
JI members in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines
have revealed links with al-Qaida. The JI’s stated
goal is to create an Islamic state comprising Malaysia,
Singapore, Indonesia, and the southern Philippines. Three
Indonesian extremists, one of who is in custody in Malaysia,
are the reported leaders of the organization.
