Duterte orders Philippine military to crush Abu Sayyaf militants for atrocities
Local community leaders and peace advocates in the Philippines' restive south remain hopeful that the peace process will prevail despite the new challenge posed by twin bombings during a Sunday church service and a Wednesday explosion.
The military had taken custody of four people, including two teenagers, caught on surveillance camera shortly after Sunday's twin blasts, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
While police and the military are hunting down other suspects in the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf group responsible for the death of over 20 people and injury of more than 100, a grenade exploded in a mosque in Zamboanga, a city in southwestern Mindanao, killing two people and injuring four.
Colonel Leonel M. Nicolas, chief of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Zamboanga, quelled speculations that the explosion might be related to Sunday's church bombing, noting that it is still being investigated.
No one has claimed responsibility for the mosque explosion, though the IS group said two of its suicide bombers detonated explosive belts in Jolo, a municipality in the Muslim-majority island province of Sulu, six days after a referendum on a law that will grant autonomy for the mainly Muslim region returned an overwhelming "yes" vote.
Abu Sayyaf, based in and around Jolo in the southwestern part of the Philippines, is the only local counterpart of the IS. It was listed by the Philippines and the United States as a terrorist organization in 2015.
After Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the military to crush the terrorist group following the bombings, the military is intensifying operations against Abu Sayyaf, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in Wednesday's briefing. The military said Ajang-Ajang, a subgroup of Abu Sayyaf, may also be behind the attack.
It remains to be found out as to why the IS bombed the church in Jolo. But community leaders and peace advocates are concerned about the timing of the attack, coming on the heels of a plebiscite that seeks to ratify the Bangsamoro Organic Law - the law that will create an autonomous Muslim region.
Eddie Alih, commissioner of the Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution (ConCom), was saddened by the bombing but believes this should not derail the ongoing efforts to end the long years of unrest on the island of Mindanao.
"We will continue to work in order to attain peace and development in the Bangsamoro region," Alih said.
Alih, who once served as chancellor of Mindanao State University's campus on the island province of Tawi-Tawi, said the bombing will also not stop the implementation of the law or the establishment of the autonomous Muslim region.
Rosa Cordillera Castillo, assistant professor at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, said she remains confident that this should not derail the Philippines from implementing the law.
"What happened in Jolo should give people all over the Philippines more reason to collectively support the peace process and struggle for a just, inclusive, and lasting peace in Mindanao," Castillo said.
Abdullah Baltazar, coordinator of the People's Coalition for Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's Reform and Transformation, said the ratification of the law means that both the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to continue following the provisions set out in a peace agreement signed by both parties in 2014.
The autonomous region will encompass the provinces of Sulu, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and several self-governing cities and towns, all at the southwestern part of Mindanao with a predominantly Muslim population.
Baltazar of Philippine CART said the bombing indicates the need to address security issues in Sulu.
"It's important to conduct an in-depth investigation and create a special investigating team that will include not only military and government but representatives from the region," he said.
Benedicto Bacani, executive director of the Cotabato city-based think tank Institute for Autonomy and Governance, said the bombing also showed that the law is "not a magic pill that will immediately bring peace and development" in the southern Philippines.
Bacani said the law will provide the framework that will establish an autonomous region, but this won't solve the problem of "violent extremism" existing not only in the Philippines but in other countries.