https://www.scmp.com/rss/318731/feed Considered one of Asia's longest running conflicts, decades of fighting between various rebel groups and the Philippine government has claimed the lives of 120,000 people and displaced another 2 million. However hopes for peace was raised in 2014 when a peace deal was signed between the country's largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which aims to establish a more powerful autonomous region for Muslims in the south of the largely Catholic nation. However, a few hundred... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Two US citizens were among 19 people killed in a raid on an alleged communist stronghold in the Philippines that has sparked a probe by the country’s rights commission, a government task force said. More than 300 residents in the Toboso municipality of Negros Island fled their homes on April 19 as gunfire rang out in the remote sugar cane-farming region, the municipal disaster management office told reporters last week. The number of people killed in the firefight, in which only one soldier was... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3351477/two-us-citizens-killed-raid-philippines-communist-stronghold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3351477/two-us-citizens-killed-raid-philippines-communist-stronghold?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:34:59 +0000 Alan Robles,Raissa Robles Alan Robles,Raissa Robles The mountains of the Philippines are quieter now. The jungle bases that once sustained Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency are mostly emptied out. Its tens of thousands of guerrilla fighters have been reduced, by the military’s account, to something “very, very negligible”. After 56 years, the Philippine military thinks the fight is almost over – and that conviction is transforming the armed forces from the inside out. Commanders are overhauling training and strategy, moving away from... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3345929/philippines-says-its-communist-rebels-are-defeated-are-they?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3345929/philippines-says-its-communist-rebels-are-defeated-are-they?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:00:14 +0000 Rescuers found the wreckage of a missing FA-50 fighter jet and the bodies of its two crew members on Wednesday in a mountainous region of the Philippines’ south. The jet had gone missing a day earlier while on a mission to provide air support for troops fighting communist rebels in northern Mindanao. Lieutenant General Luis Rex Bergante, commander of Eastern Mindanao Command, said the two crewmen had been found inside the wreckage. “The bodies were found inside the aircraft. There was an attempt... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3301126/total-wreck-lost-philippine-fighter-jet-found-smashed-mountainside?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3301126/total-wreck-lost-philippine-fighter-jet-found-smashed-mountainside?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Mar 2025 06:39:17 +0000 A Philippine air force fighter jet with two pilots on board has gone missing during a night combat assault in support of ground forces who were battling insurgents in a southern province. The FA-50 jet lost communication during the tactical mission with other air force aircraft at around midnight on Monday before reaching a target area. The other aircraft were able to return safely to an airbase in central Cebu province, the air force said without providing other details for security reasons. A... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3300954/philippine-jet-goes-missing-fighting-communist-insurgents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3300954/philippine-jet-goes-missing-fighting-communist-insurgents?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Mar 2025 05:34:41 +0000 Michael Beltran Michael Beltran Philippine insurgents have again clashed with soldiers in remote parts of the country amid conflicting claims by the government about a lull in hostilities. President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr declared in December that there were “no more active” bases of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the country. Since the start of the year, however, the Maoist insurgents had engaged in gunfights with government forces at least 10 times in Rizal province, and the cities of Batangas, Negros Occidental, Bohol and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3252929/philippine-maoist-rebels-dismiss-manilas-goal-ending-insurgency-2025-say-they-are-ready-keep?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3252929/philippine-maoist-rebels-dismiss-manilas-goal-ending-insurgency-2025-say-they-are-ready-keep?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2024 04:00:14 +0000 Rodrigo Duterte’s disclosure that he is seeking secession for the southern Philippine island of Mindanao has drawn a mixture of scepticism about the motives of the bombastic former president, and concern over the potential to divert military resources from the South China Sea. During a January 30 livestream of his long-running talk show Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa (From the Masses, for the Masses), Duterte casually revealed he had assigned his close political associate, Congressman Pantaleon... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251801/could-dutertes-mindanao-bid-spark-tensions-philippines-suit-beijings-agenda-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251801/could-dutertes-mindanao-bid-spark-tensions-philippines-suit-beijings-agenda-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Feb 2024 04:00:24 +0000 Philippine troops killed nine communist rebels in a series of firefights on Monday, about a month after the two sides agreed to resume peace talks, the armed forces said. The fighting occurred in four remote villages near the southern city of Malaybalay, a military statement said, at the start of a two-day unilateral Christmas truce declared by the Philippines’ communist party and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA). The military’s Fourth Infantry Division did not immediately release... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3246213/philippine-troops-kill-9-communist-rebels-just-month-after-sides-agree-peace-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3246213/philippine-troops-kill-9-communist-rebels-just-month-after-sides-agree-peace-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Dec 2023 09:35:10 +0000 A member of a pro-Islamic State militant group has been arrested over the bombing of a Catholic mass in the southern Philippines, a military commander said on Saturday. The man – identified as Jafar Gamo Sultan – was detained during a hunt for four suspects believed to be behind the attack on worshippers in Marawi, the country’s largest Muslim city, which was besieged by militants in 2017. Four people were killed and 50 wounded in the bombing last Sunday that was later claimed by the Islamic... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3244518/philippines-arrests-member-pro-islamic-state-militant-group-over-catholic-mass-bombing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3244518/philippines-arrests-member-pro-islamic-state-militant-group-over-catholic-mass-bombing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Dec 2023 15:53:48 +0000 After decades of armed conflict between the Philippine government and the country’s communist rebels, a surprise move by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr to hold peace talks has brought with it both hopes of finally ending the bloodshed and anger from opponents who see such negotiations as a grave mistake. While several senior members of the armed forces and police have welcomed the news of the peace talks, first announced on Tuesday, a very different response came from the camp of Marcos’... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3243573/will-philippines-revived-peace-talks-end-rebel-conflict-good-or-aid-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3243573/will-philippines-revived-peace-talks-end-rebel-conflict-good-or-aid-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Dec 2023 06:00:22 +0000 Two environmental activists allegedly abducted by the Philippine military more than two weeks ago were freed on Tuesday, sparking jubilation among supporters who had campaigned for their release. Jonila Castro, 21, and Jhed Tamano, 22, had been working with coastal communities opposed to reclamation activities in Manila Bay when they disappeared on September 2 in Bataan province, near the capital Manila. The Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for land and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3235145/we-were-abducted-military-philippines-lands-rights-activists-say-security-chiefs-cry-fake-news?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3235145/we-were-abducted-military-philippines-lands-rights-activists-say-security-chiefs-cry-fake-news?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Sep 2023 03:01:59 +0000 Philippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison died on Friday night at the age of 83 after a two-week confinement in a hospital in the Netherlands, his party said on Saturday. Sison was the founder of the Philippine Communist Party, whose military wing – the New People’s Army (NPA) – has been waging an armed rebellion in one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies. The conflict between the NPA and the Philippine government has killed more than 40,000 people. “The Filipino proletariat and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3203690/philippine-communist-party-founder-sison-dies-83-self-exiled-leader-was-us-terrorist-list?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3203690/philippine-communist-party-founder-sison-dies-83-self-exiled-leader-was-us-terrorist-list?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Dec 2022 09:38:45 +0000 This is the first in a series of stories on the role of women in peacebuilding efforts and security across Asia. Check out the second and third article. Connie Dumato was just a child when four of her cousins were killed and her uncle lost his legs after their home in the southern Philippines came under attack. “This was a very traumatic experience,” said the 62-year-old Muslim woman, recalling hearing gunshots ricocheting through the streets. Dumato described it as a “community war” in which... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3201820/philippines-superwoman-smashes-religious-gender-stereotypes-resolve-conflicts-help-her-daughter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3201820/philippines-superwoman-smashes-religious-gender-stereotypes-resolve-conflicts-help-her-daughter?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Dec 2022 03:30:14 +0000 Philippine troops forged a ceasefire with Muslim guerillas after 10 combatants were killed in clashes in a southern village and frantic efforts were made to prevent an escalation that could threaten a major peace accord, military commanders and the rebels said Friday. The sporadic clashes erupted Tuesday and Wednesday in Ulitan village on the island province of Basilan, where emergency talks arranged by government and rebel mediators led to an indefinite ceasefire agreement late Thursday between... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3199341/filipino-troops-rebels-forge-truce-after-fighting-kills-10-amid-peace-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3199341/filipino-troops-rebels-forge-truce-after-fighting-kills-10-amid-peace-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Nov 2022 11:14:07 +0000 Fidel Ramos, the former Philippine president who was head of the national police under Ferdinand Marcos Snr before defecting and joining the “People Power” protests that ousted the dictator in 1986, has died. He was 94. Ramos died on Sunday, according to radio station DZRH and state-owned broadcaster PTV. The presidential palace confirmed the news. “It is with great sorrow that we learn of the passing of former President Fidel V. Ramos,” said Trixie Cruz-Angeles, press secretary for President... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3187218/philippines-ex-president-fidel-ramos-who-helped-end-marcos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3187218/philippines-ex-president-fidel-ramos-who-helped-end-marcos?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Jul 2022 11:38:47 +0000 Three people died in a shooting at a university graduation ceremony in the Philippines’ capital region on Sunday, including a former mayor from the volatile south of the country, police said. Local Quezon City police chief Remus Medina said the shooting appeared to have been an assassination of the former mayor of the southern Lamitan city, Rose Furigay. The suspect, wounded in a shoot-out with a campus security officer and arrested after a car chase, was now in custody and being interrogated,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3186414/3-dead-shooting-top-philippines-university-determined?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3186414/3-dead-shooting-top-philippines-university-determined?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jul 2022 11:33:18 +0000 The children of Filipino military and police officers have for decades been “easy targets” for radicalisation and recruitment by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, say experts, as concerns grow over the organisation deemed one of the country’s “most serious” security threats. Communist rebels have waged an armed insurgency against Manila for more than five decades, and the targeting of children of uniformed officers has been a way for the CPP to gain access to all... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3184212/philippine-children-uniformed-officers-targeted-easy-prey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3184212/philippine-children-uniformed-officers-targeted-easy-prey?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jul 2022 12:00:19 +0000 If history has a habit of repeating itself, a short but deadly conflict between Islamic State-linked violent extremist organisations (IS-linked VEOs) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines should be making the administration of new Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr more than a little concerned – although those in charge would be wise to delve deep to find out what really caused the fighting. It was 2017 when such VEOs took over the southern city of Marawi, home to around 200,000 people... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3183937/marcos-jnr-should-look-beyond-jihadist-ideology-stop-islamic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3183937/marcos-jnr-should-look-beyond-jihadist-ideology-stop-islamic?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Jul 2022 23:00:11 +0000 Two long-wanted Abu Sayyaf militant commanders accused of beheading two kidnapped Canadian tourists and a German in the southern Philippines have surrendered to authorities, officials said Friday. Almujer Yadah and Bensito Quitino gave themselves up to military officials in Jolo town in southern Sulu province and surrendered their assault rifles, Sulu military commander Major General Ignatius Patrimonio and other security officials said. The officials did not provide details of how and when the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3182167/philippine-militants-accused-beheading-tourists-surrender?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3182167/philippine-militants-accused-beheading-tourists-surrender?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jun 2022 13:51:37 +0000 Three security guards were killed on Monday when gunmen opened fire at a polling station in a restive region of the southern Philippines, police said, as millions of Filipinos voted in national elections. Elections are a traditionally volatile time in a country with lax gun laws and a violent political culture, but police said this season had been comparatively peaceful. The deadly shooting happened shortly after voting got under way in Buluan municipality on Mindanao island, a haven for... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3177003/3-security-guards-shot-dead-philippine-polling-station?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3177003/3-security-guards-shot-dead-philippine-polling-station?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 May 2022 03:37:37 +0000 Does Philippine Vice-President Leni Robredo plan to form a coalition with armed communist rebels if she wins the presidency on May 9? Retired Major General Domingo Tutaan Jnr finds the claim to be laughable. “These accusations are all scurrilous,” the former spokesman for the Philippines’ armed forces said on Saturday in an exclusive interview with This Week In Asia. “This is just a very funny thing that these claims are coming out.” Robredo has, in fact, been consulting “a group of retired... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3176496/philippine-election-leni-robredo-allied-communist-terrorists-no?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3176496/philippine-election-leni-robredo-allied-communist-terrorists-no?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 May 2022 09:40:51 +0000 In 2017, pro-Islamic State militants sprang a five-month siege on the southern Philippine city of Marawi in the terror organisation’s most serious assault in Southeast Asia, unsettling governments across the region. The onslaught at Mindanao island, led by the local Maute Group, was believed to involve fighters from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East, and killed more than 1,200 people. Today, Mindanao remains a hotbed for militant activities, as well as a long-running insurgency by the New... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3176373/what-challenges-will-next-philippine-leader-face-militant-hotbed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3176373/what-challenges-will-next-philippine-leader-face-militant-hotbed?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 May 2022 23:45:16 +0000 Voters in East Timor cast ballots for a president on Saturday in an election that will test the young nation’s stability amid a protracted political crisis and economic uncertainty. Incumbent Francisco ‘Lu Olo’ Guterres, 67, a former guerilla leader from the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor party, known by its local acronym Fretilin, is running against 15 other candidates, including four women. “I am confident that I will win the election again,” Guterres told reporters after... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3171113/east-timor-vote-highlights-young-nations-political-impasse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3171113/east-timor-vote-highlights-young-nations-political-impasse?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Mar 2022 10:34:18 +0000 Philippine troops killed at least seven Muslim insurgents aligned with Islamic State group in a recent offensive in the south and recovered 45 heavy firearms and several bombs and landmines that were to be used in future attacks, military officials said Thursday. About 60 Muslim militants were in the remote camp near Maguing in Lanao del Sur province when it was attacked Tuesday by fighter jets and army forces, military officials said. It was not immediately clear whether their leader, Abu... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3169163/philippines-7-militants-killed-bombs-seized-latest-raid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3169163/philippines-7-militants-killed-bombs-seized-latest-raid?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Mar 2022 16:13:10 +0000 Gunmen in the southern Philippines killed a Muslim rebel and eight of his companions in a road ambush Saturday that authorities said was apparently sparked by a land dispute. Several attackers raked two SUVs with assault rifle fire in an early morning ambush in an isolated farming village in Guindulungan town in Maguindanao province, killing nine people and wounding three others who were on their way to a meeting to resolve a long-standing clan dispute, police and local officials... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3166827/philippine-gunmen-kill-9-road-ambush-southern-town?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3166827/philippine-gunmen-kill-9-road-ambush-southern-town?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Feb 2022 12:11:41 +0000 The Philippines’ police are looking into claims of an alleged assassination threat against presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jnr that was made in a post on the social media platform TikTok. At the Philippines National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, Chief General Gianardo Carlos said police are gathering more information following the Philippines’ justice ministry’s orders to investigate. “We will validate it … our commitment is to secure everyone, our commitment is for a peaceful... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3165432/philippines-police-probe-online-assassination-threat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3165432/philippines-police-probe-online-assassination-threat?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Jan 2022 09:56:43 +0000 After a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, peace talks between Thailand’s government and separatist groups in its southern provinces will resume. The face-to-face talks are set to take place on January 11 in Kuala Lumpur, brokered by the Malaysian government. Why is there a separatist movement? The provinces of Pattani, Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat in southern Thailand were historically part of the Malay kingdom of Patani. But they were severed from their southern neighbours under... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3162267/can-thai-separatists-and-bangkok-agree-peace-talks-brokered?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3162267/can-thai-separatists-and-bangkok-agree-peace-talks-brokered?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jan 2022 02:30:07 +0000 A top communist rebel commander has been killed in an assault by government soldiers in the southern Philippines, the military said on Sunday. George Madlos, also known as Ka Oris, was the commander and spokesman for the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the rebel Communist Party of the Philippines. Troops were dispatched to Impasugong town in Bukidnon province, 826km south of Manila, early on Saturday after the military received reports of the presence of a group of communist... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3154328/philippines-insurgency-top-communist-rebel-commander?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3154328/philippines-insurgency-top-communist-rebel-commander?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Oct 2021 04:09:42 +0000 The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, in which the financial and political capitals of the US were gutted by non-state actors, changed the contours of the international security landscape. The Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in the Indo-Pacific, is no stranger to terrorism and violent extremism, as seen in the 2013 stand-off with a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga City, as well as the 2017 siege of Marawi by militants affiliated... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3149233/philippines-us-defence-treaty-needed-more-ever-talibans-rise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3149233/philippines-us-defence-treaty-needed-more-ever-talibans-rise?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Sep 2021 03:00:15 +0000 For millions of young girls living in poverty in the Philippines, becoming a beauty queen is the rags-to-riches fantasy of choice when it comes to plotting a way out of the shanties. They dream of becoming the next Catriona Gray or Pia Wurtzbach, much like their brothers might dream of becoming the next Manny Pacquiao. And like the boxer-turned-senator, the Philippines punches above its weight when it comes to beauty contests, lagging only Venezuela as the country with most winners in the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3148612/filipino-beauty-queens-new-weapon-war-communism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3148612/filipino-beauty-queens-new-weapon-war-communism?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Sep 2021 01:30:13 +0000 A Philippine Air Force C-130 aircraft carrying combat troops assigned to fight Muslim militants crashed and exploded while landing in the south of the country on Sunday, killing 47 army soldiers and civilians on the ground in one of worst disasters in the air force’s history. All 96 passengers have been accounted for, military chief Cirilito Sobejana said on Monday. At least 49 other soldiers were rescued with injuries and survived the fiery noontime crash into a coconut grove outside the Jolo... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3139763/philippine-military-plane-crashes-92-people-board-least-17?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3139763/philippine-military-plane-crashes-92-people-board-least-17?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jul 2021 06:58:59 +0000 Philippine troops killed four Abu Sayyaf militants in a gun battle on Sunday in the country’s south, including a commander blamed for beheadings and a suspected would-be suicide bomber, military officials said. Army troops backed by police were to serve a warrant for the arrest of Injam Yadah at his home after midnight in Alat village in Jolo town in Sulu province, when he and his men opened fire. That sparked a gun battle that killed the militants, said regional military commander Lieutenant... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3137165/philippine-troops-kill-abu-sayyaf-militant-wanted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3137165/philippine-troops-kill-abu-sayyaf-militant-wanted?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Jun 2021 14:48:06 +0000 Malaysian authorities have captured eight suspected Abu Sayyaf militants who may have been planning ransom kidnappings in the country, said Philippine military officials who provided information that helped lead to the arrests. The Filipino militants were arrested on Saturday in Sabah state on Borneo island, where they fled in March because of military assaults on their jungle bases in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, Philippine marine brigade commander Colonel Hernanie Songano... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3132998/malaysia-captures-eight-abu-sayyaf-militants-help?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3132998/malaysia-captures-eight-abu-sayyaf-militants-help?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 May 2021 04:50:06 +0000 Philippine troops have killed a leader of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group and rescued four Indonesian hostages held since last year. Majan Sahidjuan, alias Apo Mike, was severely wounded in a gun battle with the marines on Saturday night in Languyan town in southern Tawi-Tawi province, and later died, said Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan Jnr. He described Sahidjuan as the mastermind in several kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf, which is based in Sulu and has also been involved in bomb attacks... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3126361/philippine-troops-free-four-indonesian-hostages-kill-abu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3126361/philippine-troops-free-four-indonesian-hostages-kill-abu?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Mar 2021 23:00:12 +0000 The Sunday slayings of nine activists by Philippine security forces show that in his last full year in office, President Rodrigo Duterte is not letting up on the killing spree he started five years ago. In what is now being called “Bloody Sunday”, police and soldiers raided the offices and homes of community organisers in provinces near Manila. They shot dead nine of them – including a married couple – and arrested six. The authorities said caches of weapons and grenades were found, and that the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3124907/philippines-bloody-sunday-killings-show-dutertes-brutal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3124907/philippines-bloody-sunday-killings-show-dutertes-brutal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Mar 2021 14:00:11 +0000 The president of the Philippines has approved an amnesty programme for Muslim and communist rebels who would agree to surrender their weapons to return to normal life, in the latest such attempt to tame rural insurgencies that have raged for half a century. Thousands of guerillas belonging to two large Muslim groups in the country’s south and a communist rebel faction could apply for the amnesty within a year after it gets approved by Congress, according to President Rodrigo Duterte’s signed... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3122021/philippine-president-duterte-approves-amnesty-programme?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3122021/philippine-president-duterte-approves-amnesty-programme?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Feb 2021 07:24:33 +0000 Even as the Philippines’ Supreme Court began hearing petitions on Tuesday against an anti-terrorism law that seeks – among other things – to root out communist rebels, a host of Filipinos have already been marked out as such, in a deadly form of labelling known locally as “red-tagging”. Hundreds of accused communists are thought to have lost their lives since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte came to power in 2016, with the United Nations’ Human Rights Office reporting at least 248 human... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3120214/critics-philippines-anti-terror-law-lumped-communist-rebels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3120214/critics-philippines-anti-terror-law-lumped-communist-rebels?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Feb 2021 09:30:45 +0000 Four private universities in the Philippines rejected accusations on Sunday by the authorities that they serve as recruitment grounds of Maoist rebels, days after students protested against security force patrols at some university campuses. President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has stepped up efforts to end a Maoist-led rebellion, one of the world’s longest insurgencies that has killed more than 40,000 people. Last week, Philippine students and activists protested against a government decision... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3119038/philippines-universities-deny-becoming-breeding-ground?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3119038/philippines-universities-deny-becoming-breeding-ground?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jan 2021 12:33:17 +0000 Plans to deploy Filipino fishermen as militia forces in the South China Sea have been put on hold by the Philippines’ government as “we are not at war with China”, presidential National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said on Wednesday. Philippine defence officials had mooted the idea in a Senate finance committee hearing last month, saying they were considering creating ostensibly civilian maritime militia units similar to China’s “little blue men”. Philippines’ plan for maritime militia to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3108475/we-are-not-war-china-philippines-fishermen-militia-plan-put?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3108475/we-are-not-war-china-philippines-fishermen-militia-plan-put?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Nov 2020 13:00:24 +0000 The Philippine army chief said on Tuesday that two Islamic militants who blew themselves up were responsible for the bombings that killed at least 14 people and wounded 75 more in the country’s worst extremist attack this year, and that the escalation of violence may require martial law to be reimposed. Military officials initially said the first of two explosions that rocked Jolo town in the southern province of Sulu on Monday was caused by a bomb rigged to a motorcycle, while the second blast... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3098821/philippine-army-chief-may-seek-return-martial-law-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3098821/philippine-army-chief-may-seek-return-martial-law-after?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Aug 2020 12:15:22 +0000 Muslim militants allied with Islamic State set off a powerful motorcycle explosive followed by a suicide bombing that together killed 14 people on Monday, many of them soldiers, in the worst extremist attack in the Philippines this year, military officials said. At least 75 soldiers, police and civilians were wounded in the midday bombings in Jolo town in southern Sulu province, regional military commander Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan said. The bombings were staged as the government... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3098653/twin-bombs-philippines-kill-least-14-blamed-islamic-state?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3098653/twin-bombs-philippines-kill-least-14-blamed-islamic-state?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Aug 2020 11:45:38 +0000 After more than five decades of fighting communist rebels, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is eager to use the country’s new Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) to decisively end Asia’s longest-running insurgency – by using the legislation to label these groups and individuals as terrorists. Opinions in the Southeast Asian nation have long been split over whether the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military arm the New People’s Army (NPA) – which are dedicated to overthrowing the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3094648/will-philippines-anti-terror-bill-crush-communists-or-give-them?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3094648/will-philippines-anti-terror-bill-crush-communists-or-give-them?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Jul 2020 03:30:07 +0000 Two former Supreme Court justices and a maritime law expert have filed a petition to scrap the Philippines’ recently passed anti-terrorism law on the grounds they could be labelled “terrorists” for criticising the country’s relationship with China. The petitioners say government officials have already labelled them “warmongers” and accused them of escalating tensions with Beijing. They say the law is so broad and vague that it could be used to censure them and other government critics rather... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3094433/criticising-china-could-be-terrorism-under-philippines-anti?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3094433/criticising-china-could-be-terrorism-under-philippines-anti?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Jul 2020 12:20:59 +0000 The widow of a slain pro-Islamic State (Isis) Filipino leader, Omar Maute, whose group seized control of Marawi city in southern Philippines in 2017, has been freed from prison. Indonesian Minhati Madrais, 39, was married to Omar Khayyam Maute of the pro-Isis Maute Group, which he led together with his brother Abdullah Maute. Remnants of the Maute Group are believed to be waiting for her release from jail, as she holds the key to their financing. “Minhati was freed very recently and she is... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3093161/omar-mautes-widow-thought-control-millions-cash-and-cryptocurrency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3093161/omar-mautes-widow-thought-control-millions-cash-and-cryptocurrency?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jul 2020 12:00:16 +0000 While he was mayor of Davao, Rodrigo Duterte tolerated the presence of rebel groups so long as they did not bear arms or carry out attacks in his city. It was an uneasy arrangement that was generally observed. After becoming president of the Philippines, the self-confessed socialist even appointed some leftist leaders to his cabinet. But this romance with the reds now seems to have unravelled as pressure mounts on the country’s remaining insurgent and terror groups. A controversial anti-terror... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3089558/philippines-needs-dutertes-anti-terror-bill-addressing-roots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3089558/philippines-needs-dutertes-anti-terror-bill-addressing-roots?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jun 2020 07:00:12 +0000 The battle between Philippine armed forces and Islamic militants in the southern city of Marawi in 2017 unwittingly helped changed the direction of the country’s first feminist publishing house. The conflict, which took place in the mainly Catholic country’s only city with a predominantly Muslim population, lasted five months and left several thousand government troops and militants dead, but also displaced hundreds of thousands of residents. News reports focused on the clashes between the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3064920/safe-space-independent-all-female-press-builds-first?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3064920/safe-space-independent-all-female-press-builds-first?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2020 21:00:16 +0000 A tough new anti-terror law set to be passed by legislators in the Philippines has raised concerns it could be used by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to jail critics and snoop on citizens over the internet. The bill, which was approved 19-2 by the country’s Senate on Wednesday, effectively repeals 2007’s Human Security Act, replacing it with a “strong legal backbone to support the country’s criminal justice response to terrorism” that provides “law enforcers the much-needed... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3064656/could-duterte-critics-be-target-philippines-new-anti-terror-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3064656/could-duterte-critics-be-target-philippines-new-anti-terror-law?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2020 01:00:20 +0000 Nearly one year after the fall of Baghouz, the last remaining stronghold in the territorial caliphate of Islamic State (Isis), there is still widespread uncertainty about the fate of hundreds of foreign fighters from Southeast Asia. More than 1,000 people from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia travelled abroad to fight with Isis and other militant groups, and dozens have already returned home. Around 700 Indonesians and 65 Malaysians are held in Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) prisons or... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3048468/what-do-asias-returning-isis-fighters-do-next-youre-about-find?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3048468/what-do-asias-returning-isis-fighters-do-next-youre-about-find?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Feb 2020 02:30:06 +0000 A police officer and a grandmother were killed and 15 people wounded in an attack by suspected communist rebels in the eastern Philippines, the military said on Saturday. The attack occurred on Friday along a highway in Borongan City in Eastern Samar province, 582 kilometres southeast of Manila, said Captain Reynaldo Aragones, a regional army spokesman. Ten of the wounded, including three children, were civilians, while five were police officers, he added. “The attack is believed to be part of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3042098/communist-rebel-attack-killed-two-wounded-15-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3042098/communist-rebel-attack-killed-two-wounded-15-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Dec 2019 06:53:43 +0000 President Rodrigo Duterte has decided to end more than two years of martial law in the south of Philippines after government forces weakened Islamic militant groups there with the capture and killing of their leaders, his spokesman said. Duterte placed the Mindanao region under martial law after hundreds of local militants aligned with Islamic State and backed by foreign fighters occupied buildings, a commercial district and communities in Marawi city starting May 23, 2017, in the worst security... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3041519/duterte-lift-martial-law-southern-philippines-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3041519/duterte-lift-martial-law-southern-philippines-security?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Dec 2019 20:30:15 +0000 Philippine troops on Monday rescued a British man and his Filipino wife who were abducted by gunmen at a southern beach resort last month and taken to the jungle hideouts of Islamic State-allied local militants. Regional military commander Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana said troops caught up with the Abu Sayyaf militant captors of Allan Hyrons and his wife, Wilma, in the mountainous hinterlands off Parang town in Sulu province and rescued the couple safely after a brief gun... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3039174/philippine-troops-rescue-abducted-british-man-and-wife?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3039174/philippine-troops-rescue-abducted-british-man-and-wife?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Nov 2019 04:02:47 +0000