ISIS: Paving its way to the Philippines

Terrorism is the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal.[1] In the 1990s, Al Qaeda was known to be biggest terrorist in the word. Osama Bin Laden was founder and head of the Islamist militant group. Al Qaeda was held to be responsible of several attacks including the September 11, 2001 Bombings which was known to be the most destructive attack.[2] With the great threat in security, the United States declared war. Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.[3]  With his death, the operations were devolved to actions by franchise associated groups and lone-wolf operators.[4]

In the present, the Islamic State (ISIS) is the biggest threat in global security. They have already been designated as terrorist group by the United Nations (UN). UN has held the group responsible or human rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International has reported ethnic cleansing by the group on a "historic scale".[5] ISIS' desire is to overthrow the existing governments of unstable, heavily Muslim nations and establish their own theocratic state in its place. The leader of this new caliphate would be the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who claims he’s the “caliph.”[6] In making this desire to reality, ISIS became so active in recruiting through the social media. They also use the social media to show to the people what they are capable of doing. The terrorist group has already taken control in some places Iraq and Syria and also has operations in eastern Libya, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, and other areas of the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.[7]

Here in the Philippines, Mayor Joel Maturan of Ungkaya Pakan, Basilan, in his interview with the ABS-CBN news team, confirmed that ISIS has already entered the Philippine territory. He said that more than 100 Muslim youth were already recruited to be part of the terrorist group in exchange of weapons, money and dowry. Mayor Maturan requested to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to strengthen their security in the place but AFP said that ISIS has not yet entered our territory and what we have are just sympathizers of the ISIS.

With this confirmation from the AFP, how can the government be sure that these sympathizers will not live the ISIS way? How can they prevent these youth in doing violence?

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[1] Merriam Webster Dictionary

[2] Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_al-Qaeda_attacks>

[3] Death of Osama bin Laden <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden>

[4] Al-Qaeda < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda>

[5] Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant>

[6] Chris Tognotti, What Does ISIS Want, Exactly? The Terrorists' Stated Goal Has Been Made Clear, September 3, 2014

< http://www.bustle.com/articles/38192-what-does-isis-want-exactly-the-terrorists-stated-goal-has-been-made-clear>

[7] Supra., Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant