FVR: Pinoys training with jihadists in Iraq, Syria

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Fidel Ramos raised the alarm yesterday over reports that some 100 Filipinos are training with jihadists trying to carve out a fundamentalist Islamic state in Iraq and Syria.

Ramos said there are reports that the Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, have pledged support for the Islamic State (IS), an emerging militant group in Iraq and Syria.

“The report that has been reaching us retired people, at least 100 of our young Filipino Muslims have already infiltrated Iraq to undergo training to return and be jihadists or militants,” the former leader told ANC’s “Beyond Politics.”

Ramos, however, did not give other details on the information that he received.

Earlier, Islamic militants in the country have expressed support for the jihadist campaign in Iraq and Syria in videos uploaded on YouTube.

Last July 23, a video of senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who carries a $5-million bounty from the US government, and masked men was posted on YouTube where they declared support for IS.

BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama said his group has also pledged support for the IS.     

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) remains clueless over claims that some 100 young Filipinos are now in the Middle East training with the IS.

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, AFP Public Affairs Office (PAO) chief, said the military has not received any information about Filipinos joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“I’ve already checked with the intelligence units of the AFP and we have not monitored, not even names of Filipinos who are there fighting. So there is none,” he said.

 Zagala said they received reports that some Abu Sayyaf members pledged an oath of support to the ISIS and took videos of the event which he described as mere propaganda aimed at generating foreign financial support. – With Jaime Laude