EDITORIAL- Strong ‘remnants’

Hardly anyone had heard of the Maute group until May 2017, when the terrorists together with the Abu Sayyaf attacked Marawi City.

By most indications, the attack took the government by surprise. Then president Rodrigo Duterte was in Russia with nearly his entire Cabinet including his top security officials. While still in Moscow, he declared martial law in Mindanao, and then cut short his visit after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It took the government five months, with help from certain foreign governments, to end the siege. By that time, Marawi was in ruins. Reconstruction took years.

In recent months, there have been reports of sporadic encounters between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and what the AFP describes as “remnants” of the terrorist Dawlah Islamiya and the Mautes.

The latest incident saw 10 members of the group, including four women, killed in an encounter with military and police forces in the Lanao del Sur town of Marantao on April 17.

Security forces identified one of those slain as Amerol Mangoranca, described as a leader of the Maute faction of Dawlah Islamiya. Both groups have been linked to the terrorist Islamic State. Mangoranca was tagged as one of those who planned the bombing of the Mindanao State University gymnasium where a Catholic mass was being held just two days before Christmas in 2023. Four worshippers were killed and over 30 others wounded in the attack.

In the latest incident, police and military officers were serving arrest warrants for the 10 for offenses including multiple murder, arson, drug trafficking, armed robbery and extortion. But the 10 reportedly resisted, triggering a firefight. The government forces reported finding four high-powered guns, a handgun, a fragmentation grenade and components for improvised explosive devices at the site.

That’s worrisome terrorist firepower, although not enough to stage another siege. Those 10 fighters can’t be accurately described as “remnants” of a group that has previously shown capability to muster support from ordinary civilians.

Military and police officials said they received help in the operation from traditional communities as well as the governments of Lanao and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

This is good to know, but Islamist extremists can be remarkably resilient. Authorities must make sure that the “remnants” of both Dawlah Islamiya and the Mautes cannot bounce back.