The Philippines: Counter-Insurgency Vs. Counter-Terrorism in Mindanao

AHJAG’s baptism of fire came quickly. Following Kadaffy Janjalani’s flight to mainland Mindanao in mid-2003, U.S. electronic and aerial surveillance led to a series of air strikes in MILF-controlled areas of southern Maguindanao province, from November 2004 to April 2005. These were followed by a major AFP ground operation, Oplan Tornado, from July to October 2005. The MILF did not retaliate, and escalation to full-scale hostilities, as occurred in 2000 and 2003, was avoided.49 Instead, key ASG leaders and their foreign jihadi confederates were forced back to Sulu, with MILF assistance.50

The AHJAG concept rests on intelligence sharing. At the third joint AHJAG meeting in Davao City on 23 April 2005, the government presented a list of 53 persons of priority interest, including 32 foreign jihadis, it believed were hiding in MILF territory. Two months later, according to a well-placed source, Al-Haj Murad sent a personal letter to Kadaffy, ordering him to leave within 72 hours. At the end of this period, the MILF gave the government the “exact location” of Kadaffy’s group.51 The willingness of the MILF to expel the ASG leader was unprecedented; its readiness to provide information on the whereabouts of ASG was even more significant.

Armed with this intelligence, U.S.-trained Light Reaction Company troops formed the spearhead of Oplan Tornado, which was to begin with a night operation on 30 June 2005. But the troops reached the target area six hours late, and a protracted chase began, leading to several encounters with MILF forces. Three weeks into the operation, new ground was broken with a GRP-MILF agreement to reposition 280 MILF fighters in safe areas in Talayan and Datu Saudi Ampatuan towns in Maguindanao.52 Intelligence personnel inspected the men as they crossed the highway to ensure no wanted individuals had smuggled themselves into the ranks, and the pursuit continued.

Tensions on both sides threatened the success of this unprecedented joint counter-terrorist drive. The government was under pressure from the International Monitoring Team (IMT), a Malaysian-led peacekeeping force deployed in October 2004, to halt the operation altogether, while the MILF leadership around Murad faced recalcitrant field commanders who viewed the jihadis as allies and sought to aid their escape. Complaining that they were unable to harvest their crops as Oplan Tornado dragged on, fighters began returning to the MILF’s camps Omar and al-Badr after about a month’s cantonment, and minor clashes ensued.53

Even if AHJAG did not result in the terrorists’ capture, the new arrangement did prevent potentially disastrous conflict escalation in the MILF’s central Mindanao heartland; prompted the first demonstration of Murad’s willingness to control extremists in his own fold; and forced key ASG and jihadi targets back into their corner on Jolo. These were significant achievements for an untested mechanism – undoubtedly aided by the generally positive mood of the wider peace process at the time. Yet, for several reasons, AHJAG has received no credit for the counter-terrorism victories it later made possible in Sulu.

Collaboration with terrorists is a sensitive issue. To acknowledge the breaking of a terrorist link is to admit its existence in the first place. As noted, the MILF refuses to acknowledge that its commanders harbour terrorists. Media and civil society organisations supporting other aspects of the peace process tend to deny the problem exists or suggest that counter-terrorism measures are “nothing but a smokescreen for the assertion of hegemonic U.S. interests”.54AHJAG’s own reports emphasise cooperation against common criminality, reflecting a formal mandate that does not even mention terrorism.55

There are other factors as well, however. Not everyone believes AHJAG was the key reason for the expulsion of ASG and its allies in 2005. A Philippine official made the implausible argument that after security forces tracked down and shot Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi, ASG and its foreign allies became convinced that MILF commanders had betrayed them. Fearful of further betrayals, they fled to Jolo on their own.56 The flight to Jolo, however, took place two years after al-Ghozi was shot. Other officials suggested that AHJAG in fact had not worked, because the MILF continued to turn a blind eye to the activities of commanders like Mugasid.

But its achievements were real,57 and strengthening a proven mechanism should be an obvious policy choice. The five-month hiatus between the June 2007 expiration of AHJAG’s mandate and its renewal at the 14 November 2007 exploratory meeting in Kuala Lumpur, however, was costly, as many of its personnel had moved on to new assignments, including its government chairman, General Dolorfino, now Marine Commandant, based in Manila.58