Philippines 10th most affected by terrorism in 2017

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines placed 10th in a ranking of countries most affected by terrorism in the 2018 Global Terrorism Index, according to a recently published by the Institute for Economics and Peace.

The Philippines slid down two places from last year, according to GTI, with a score of  7.181 out of 10, among countries that feel a "high" impact from terror attacks.

Other countries in the top 10 worst performing countries on the index include:

• Iraq (9.746)
• Afghanistan (9.391)
• Nigeria (8.660)
• Syria (8.315)
• Pakistan (8.181)
• Somalia (8.020)
• India (7.568)
• Yemen (7.534)
• Egypt (7.345)
• Philippines (7.181)

The report based the ranking on total number of terrorist incidents in a given year, total number of fatalities, injuries and property damage from attacks in any given year.

The Philippines was the only Southeast Asian country to be ranked in the 10 worst-performing countries on the index.

The highest number of deaths from terrorism was recorded in 2017 with a total of 326 fatalities, an 18-percent increase from the year before.

"While no terror attack in the Philippines killed more than ten people in 2017, the impact of terrorism was spread across the nation," the report read. "Over 170 cities in the Philippines experienced at least one terror-related death."

The report only counted civilians in the number of people killed by terrorism.

The New People's Army— the armed unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines—was responsible for most of the casualities, or 35-percent of the total deaths, followed by the Abu Sayyaf group responsible for 18-percent of the deaths and the Maute group, responsible for 8 percent of deaths ascribed to terrorism.

The report noted the Marawi siege as the single event with most number of terrorism deaths with 27 civilians killed in the attack.

Maute fighters successfully invaded the city in May 2017 leaving a total of over 1,000 dead including military, rebel and civilian deaths before the Philippine government regained control of the city in October the same year.  

The Armed Forces of the Philippines noted a higher count of civilian casualties in the Marawi City attack, however, pegging it at 47 deaths.

Aside from number of deaths, the GTI noted 297 injuries and 486 "incidents" from terror attacks in 2017.

Globally, however, the index recorded a drop in the number of deaths from terrorism for a third consecutive year. "The Global Terrorism Index 2018 shows the total number of deaths decreased by 27 per cent in 2017, with the largest falls occurring in Iraq and Syria," the report said in its summary.

Deaths in Iraq fell by 5,000 in Iraq and by 1,000 in Syria compared to the previous year.

Palace Spokesperson Salvador Panelo reacted to the report in a statement Thursday and said the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte was not taking terrorism lightly.

“Terrorism knows no time, geography or circumstances. No matter how prepared a country or its government is, damage will inevitably be incurred if terrorism befalls in a locality within its jurisdiction,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

“Reports, such as the one issued by the IEP, are among the reasons why peace and order remains a primordial concern of the president.”

He said the reason Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao in the first place, where most of the terrorist attacks in the report occured, was to "neutralize" threats in the region.

While the declaration of martial law was prompted by the Marawi siege, it had been extended through 2018, and was recently extended again by Congress until the end of 2019.

Read the full report here