Gov’t verifying reports on Pinoy ISIS member

MANILA, Philippines - The government is still verifying reports that a Filipino Tausug is among the members of the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that beheaded an American and several others, Malacañang said yesterday.

Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said “the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other law enforcement authorities are still ascertaining the authenticity of the videos” of the beheadings uploaded on the ISIS website.

The ISIS released on Sunday a video showing they had beheaded American aid worker Peter Kassig, the fifth Westerner of 23 hostages executed by ISIS. A Tausug was reportedly one of Kassig’s executioners.

The ISIS has also turned to social media to expand its recruitment of new members in Mindanao, reports reaching the military’s intelligence community showed.

The reports said the ISIS, through the “Jihobbyists,” is using fake and duplicate Facebook accounts to convince Filipino Muslims to join the fight in Syria and Iraq in their bid to establish a caliphate state in the Middle East.

Jihobbyists are young Muslims who are highly knowledgeable with computers and are interested in the Islamist uprising around the world but don’t have the intention nor the capability of joining the actual fighting.

A report described as dismal the monitored followers and number of likes of the fake and duplicate ISIS Facebook accounts, especially in Mindanao.

The reports, however, did not mention if there are Filipino jihadists fighting alongside with ISIS rebels in Iraq and Syria despite several reports that some members of the Abu Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Khalifa Islamiyah Mindanao (KIM) have answered the call of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for all Muslims around the world to join the establishment of a caliphate state in the Middle East.

Earlier, Rommel Banlaoi of the Center for Intelligence and National Security Studies bared that at least 200 Muslim jihadists left Mindanao via the southern backdoor bound for the Middle East.

But Coloma maintained that as per information provided by the AFP leadership, “there is no confirmed report of ISIS recruitment here in the Philippines.”

“The AFP said it is coordinating with local leaders to prevent ISIS recruitment efforts and enjoined their support to our counter-radicalization campaign in the communities,” Coloma added.

The government also condemned yesterday the killing of Kassig by ISIS.

“The Philippines joins the international community in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the brutal killing of US aid worker Peter Kassig,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The group threatened to kill Kassig, a former Army Ranger who disappeared more than a year ago at a checkpoint in northeastern Syria while delivering medical supplies, in retaliation for air strikes carried out by the United States in Iraq and Syria. – With Pia Lee-Brago