Military recovers ISIS-related documents from Maute group camp

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - The military has recovered documents and booklets that the militant Maute group allegedly used to spread the radicalization espoused by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the group's camp in Lanao del Sur, an official said Thursday.

While the military has yet to confirm a direct link between local extremist groups and ISIS, the documents recovered after an operation in Butig town against the Jemaah Islamiya-inspired Maute group in February suggest it had been espousing foreign extremism.

READ:Troops overrun terrorist camp in Lanao del Sur

The military operation was in response to the group's an attack on an Army detachment in Butig.

Lt. Gen. Mayoralgo dela Cruz, commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), believes that the local militants want to get support from ISIS.

He said that aside from the documents, soldiers also recovered bands with ISIS inscriptions.

“What is good [is that] we managed to address the threat immediately following that operation in Butig against this group of local militants,” dela Cruz said.

READ: Military: No ISIS presence in Philippines

More than 40 members of the Maute group, including three of its leaders, were killed in the the week-long fighting.

Dela Cruz said the series of bombings and sabotage on power pylons, assassinations, illegal drug dealing and the attack on the military detachment could be part of the local militants’ move to be recognized  by ISIS.

“Di ba may lumabas na video (about ISIS training), siguro naging part na rin 'yun kaya lumakas ang loob nila na atakehin ‘yung (detachment). Siguro akala nila sapat na 'yung training na ginawa nila,” the Westmincom commander added.

Security forces are trying to track down the remaining members of the group, including four of the Maute brothers who led the group, before the militant group can launch another offensive, dela Cruz said.

“We want to emphasize that once the security of the place, [of] its civilian inhabitants and even the security of our personnel will be imperiled, we will apply the full force of the law and the full might of the Armed Forces and we are ready all the time,” he said.

The Aquino administration has been pushing for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, a measure based on a peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, that it says will help curb the spread of extremism in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao. Passage of the bill, which seeks to create a Bangsamoro territory with greater autonomy but that will be part of the Philippines, has been stalled by long debates, lack of quorum in Congress, and a session break because of the elections in May.

Critics of the bill have raised concerns that the bill may have provisions that violate the 1987 Constitution. Its advocates, meanwhile, say versions of the bill prepared by the congressional committees that held hearings on the BBL will not give the autonomy promised in the Comprehensive  Agreement on the Bangsamoro that the government and the MILF signed in 2013.

“Certainly, the huge disappointment over the non-passage of the BBL provides more enticing, fertile ground for recruitment to radical, extremist thought and action,” presidential peace adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles said in February in a statement forwarded to reporters by Presidential Communications and Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma. 

"It is the position of this administration that it is this comprehensive social justice-based approach that would deter the rise of violent, extremist groups in southern Philippines and comprehensively sustain past and present efforts for peace and development in Mindanao and the rest of the country," Coloma also said then.

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