Faced with “unsettling” reports of support for jihadists in Iraq and Syria, Catholics reach outFilipinos faced with "unsettling" reports of local support for Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria stress the potential of interreligious dialogue and discussion within their own congregations in containing the growth of extremism in the Philippines.
The media have reported that militant Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the southern Philippines have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group while Abu Sayyaf members were reportedly identified among slain jihadists in Syria.
BIFF is a militant organization that broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over differences in goals for peace negotiations with the Philippines government.
Philippines Senator Grace Poe has called for a Senate defense committee probe, in aid of legislation, of reports of Filipinos supporting IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. She also cited in her resolution a video posted on YouTube supposedly showing Abu Sayyaf members pledging allegiance to IS. Members of the group fighting for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines have been carrying out bombings, kidnapping for ransom, killings, and extortion activities mostly in the south and Palawan Island, southwest of Manila.
Bishop Martin Jumoad of Isabela Prelature on Basilan island told Aleteia, "We are very much worried to hear some people in the country are now embracing the ISIS cause." Bishop Jumoad said people in his prelature just north of Jolo, where Abu Sayyaf are believed to be holding German hostages, are "disturbed."
"In fact, we are afraid. Here in Basilan we cannot take for granted those reports of ISIS support because it has happened that local groups linked with outside forces and when they attacked it was really terrible," he explained. The 58 year-old bishop has lived through numerous and deadly Abu Sayyaf attacks since his installation in 2002.
"In this case we are afraid because if you speak of religious freedom, then you are identified with America because the coalition governments (conducting airstrikes on ISIS) are also calling for religious freedom," Bishop Jumoad said.
In a Twitter post, Abu Sayyaf threatened to behead one of two German hostages it had seized from their yacht off Palawan island, military officials told reporters in Manila. Abu Sayyaf demanded 250,000 pesos (US$5,585.00) ransom payment by the extended deadline of Oct. 17 for the release of Dr. Stefan Viktor Okonek, 74, and Henrike Dielen, 55 believed to be held on Sulu island. The militants also want the German government to pull out of the US-led coalition striking down IS forces in Iraq and Syria. A crisis management committee composed of public officials has been created in Jolo, Sulu province to work for the hostages’ release.
Bishop Jumoad said he resorts to interreligious dialogue when facing problems with Abu Sayyaf violence. He has sat in various crisis and other committees with Muslim public officials and religious leaders in his province.
There are also opportunities for less formal “dialogue” in day-to-day encounters with Muslims while doing pastoral work and Church social, education and other ministries. Muslim people are also beneficiaries of these activities and services of the prelature, where 27 percent of the 420,000 people are Catholics and most of the rest are Muslims.
In Manila on Saturday questions on the presence of ISIS in the country also came up at the Interfaith Forum of the Philippines in which some 50 participants from various religious groups examined the positive role of religion in culture and society. Julkipli Wadi, dean of the state-owned University of the Philippines’ Institute of Islamic Studies, told them Muslim communities are picking up lessons from past violence perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf and other militant groups in the south. “They (the experiences) must have educated particularly our Muslim communities regarding the danger and the presence of such a group," he said.
Because of this, the militants would not be able to entrench themselves in communities, Wadi added. "As far as I know, the relation of communities with the Philippine National Police is somehow becoming stronger these days," and “Muslim communities are trying to secure their own turf so that the possibility of penetration by groups like ISIS is lessened," he added.
Nonetheless, he advised vigilance given the “looming danger,” and warned against creating too much fear, which is what groups like ISIS want to happen. Media should be “more calibrated” in presenting the real situation of ISIS’ presence in the country, Wadi said.
Jesuit anthropologist and dialogue facilitator Father Albert Alejo in a separate interview warned about possible distortion of reality through media. Images of a crowd of young men with their hands raised, some of them holding a black flag does not accurately present the identity of the people and their sentiments.
"We should work for a more accurate reading of the situation," Father Alejo told Aleteia.
He called on school officials and universities to embark on studies that would provide an accurate assessment of the situation and the impact of ISIS in the Philippines. In his view, fear is overtaking analysis of the Philippine situation related to the IS presence and influence. "We need more sober analysis; at the same time, we should also strengthen our intelligence network to be able to do this," Father Alejo pointed out.
In his view, supporting moderate Muslim groups could be an effective way of containing extremists. He advocates holding intra-faith dialogue to build up this support.
Intra-faith processing involves sessions attended by people of the same faith in which all their feelings, thoughts and stories are shared honestly so that biases, prejudices and misconceptions can be dealt with and dialogue and relationship with people of another faith can be freer and more effective.
Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato described one such session in his recent lecture on peace-building. “Some of my priests have relatives in the military and some of them died in action," he said. "When they talk about peace, harmony, it is something that is in the mind, but not in the heart.”
He shared about the three-day symposium of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a congregation in the south, called “Leveling your Consciousness.”
“First, they express all their fears about Muslims.” The cardinal said this drew “very strong, even a common pejorative term about Muslims.” On the second day was the beginning of leveling off and the third day the group begins to work towards a consensus on what to do about relationships between Christians and Muslims in their own ministry. “It was difficult. There was a lot of shouting even during the first day,” Cardinal Quevedo said.
However, Father Alejo points out that it is in intra-faith processing where people of one faith can arrive at important realizations, such as how the West or their own groups are violent too, or how these contribute to the violence of people of other faiths.
“Cutting of one’s head is ‘primitive’ and shocking, but striking with a bomb at a community is not as repulsive because it’s high-tech and targeted. If you examine it the effects are basically the same — just as with the violence of poverty,” Father Alejo explained.
He stressed, however, that intra-faith processing does not look upon a “terrorist” as less violent or not violent. However, “We can compare honestly the different faces of violence we also commit and therefore, when we fight the violence among these extremist groups, we should also in the process fight our own violence,” the priest said.
Once people see that in their behavior, they are actually fueling the violence of the other side, and they should stop those things that are within their control, for example supplying arms and training fighters.
Intra-faith analysis can also help Christians see that not all Muslims are extremists and that some suffer the same violence as non Muslims for standing on the moderate side. “We should support the moderate Muslims because they are also afraid of the extremist Muslim. If we put them all in one category, we could push them to become extremists,” Father Alejo warned.
NJ Viehland writes from Manila.
