sexta-feira, 2 de novembro de 2018

Indonésia | Milhares de pessoas protestam em Jacarta


Milhares de muçulmanos conservadores protestam hoje na capital da Indonésia, depois uma bandeira ligada a uma organização islâmica proibida ter sido queimada por membros de um grupo rival.

Agitando bandeiras negras com a declaração de fé islâmica, vários milhares de manifestantes, muitos vestindo trajes islâmicos brancos, encheram uma importante via pública em Jacarta depois das orações de sexta-feira.

Um vídeo divulgado no mês passado de membros da milícia de uma organização muçulmana a queimarem a bandeira do Hizbut Tahrir provocou acusações de blasfémia porque a bandeira tem inscrita a declaração de fé islâmica.

O Hizbut Tahrir, que defende um califado global, foi banido pelo governo indonésio.

A reputação da Indonésia foi prejudicada no ano passado, quando o governador da minoria cristã de Jacarta foi detido, acusado de blasfémia, após protestos de rua que atraíram centenas de milhares de pessoas

Lusa | em Notícias ao Minuto | Foto: Reuters

Portugal | Peseiro deixa de treinar Sporting depois de "derrota vergonhosa"


Sporting em mudanças à procura do melhor para o clube. Mudou de presidente do clube após eleições e agora é tempo de mudar de treinador depois de derrota que os sportinguistas consideram de "vergonhosa" infligida pelo Estoril. Por enquanto desconhece-se quem irá ocupar o lugar de Peseiro. (TA)

Sporting oficializa saída de José Peseiro

O Sporting oficializou hoje a saída de José Peseiro do comando técnico da equipa principal de futebol, num comunicado enviado à Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM).

"A Sporting Clube de Portugal -- Futebol, SAD vem (...) informar o mercado que, nesta data, foi formalizada a revogação, por mútuo acordo, do contrato de trabalho celebrado entre a Sociedade e o treinador da equipa principal de futebol, José Peseiro", lê-se no documento.

A saída do técnico acontece após a derrota de quarta-feira, por 2-1, na receção ao Estoril Praia, da II Liga de futebol, para a Taça da Liga.

O treinador, de 58 anos, regressou no início da temporada aos 'leões', durante a governação da comissão de gestão transitória liderada por Sousa Cintra, depois da saída de Bruno de Carvalho, e até à eleição de Frederico Varandas, em 08 de setembro.

Na quarta-feira, o Sporting, que protagoniza com este despedimento a primeira 'chicotada' na I Liga 2018/19, sofreu a quarta derrota da época 2018/19, em 14 encontros oficiais. Soma ainda nove vitórias e um empate.

Peseiro deixa o clube 'leonino' no quinto lugar do campeonato, a dois pontos dos líderes FC Porto e Sporting de Braga e a um de Benfica e Rio Ave, e na segunda posição do Grupo E da Liga Europa, apenas atrás do Arsenal e em boa posição para se qualificar.

Os 'leões' conseguiram também a qualificação para a quarta eliminatória da Taça de Portugal e, na Taça da Liga, mesmo tendo perdido com os 'canarinhos', estão na luta por um lugar nas meias-finais da prova que conquistaram em 2017/18.

Esta foi a segunda passagem de Peseiro por Alvalade, depois de ter conduzido os 'leões' à final da Taça UEFA em 2004/05, antes de ser despedido no início da temporada seguinte.
O treinador começou a carreira no União de Montemor e passou por clubes como União de Santarém, Oriental, Nacional, Sporting de Braga, FC Porto e Vitória de Guimarães.

No estrangeiro, Peseiro foi adjunto de Carlos Queiroz no Real Madrid, orientou a seleção da Arábia Saudita, Al Hilal, Panathinaikos, Rapid Bucareste, Al-Wahda, Al Ahli e Sharjah FC.

Lusa | em Notícias ao Minuto

MUTL Lori Petisaun Ba PN, Arao: Sira Lahusu Audensia


DILI - Prezidente Parlamentu Nasional Arao Noe hatete, Movimentu Estudante Timor Leste, Movimentu Estudante Universitariu Timor Leste lori ona sira nia petisaun ida ba Parlamentu Nasional, maibe sira laos husu audensia.

“Sira horseik lori petisaun ida ba PN sira laos husu audensia, normalmente ita formal instituisaun sira hanesan nee haruka karta ida mai PN husu audensia, maibe ida nee oinseluk ho hato petisaun, hato petisaun lahatete iha neeba bainhira atu halo audensia ho sira, sira ezije deit katak to 5 Novembru tenke iha desizaun ida para atu muda,” dehan PPN Arao ba jornalista sira hafoin remata enkontru ho PR Francisco Guterres Lu Olo, iha Palasiu Prezidente Nicolau Lobato, Dili, Tersa (30/10/2018).

Desizaun para atu muda kareta nee tur PPN Arao Noe katak, Laos PPN mak deside, sa tan aprova tiha ona iha plenaria iha semana kotuk, agora orsamentu prevetiva aprova iha plenaria laos Vise PPN Maria A mak aprova, aprova iha plenaria nia tenke asina haruka ba governu hatama ba OJE 2019.

Iha biban nee mos PPN Arao Noe hatete, Uza media social nee laho etika, tanba ema nia bom nome, dignidade pesoal buat sira nee hotu uza media social nee hodi insulta no tarata to tan figura sira neebe mak luta ba rai ida nee.

PPN Arao dehan, ba nia atu tau kaisaun sanuluh kasunu lilin ka nia lapreokupa ida, tanba laiha ema ida mate latau ba kaisaun, distinu nee depende ba maromak, labarik foin moris horkalan dader mai mate, joven ida foin tinan 15 tuir los nia moris naruk maibe nia mate tia ona. 

Notisia kompletu lee iha jornal STL edisaun Kuarta (31/10/2018).

Carme Ximenes | Suara Timor Lorosae

Ravista australiana divulga 'benefisiadu sira' hosi enpionajen ba Timor-Leste


Ravista online ida australiana nian divulga iha loron-segunda ne'e lista ida ba responsavel boot sira nasaun nian ne'ebé maka benefisiadu ho kazu espionajen ba timor-leste bainhira nasaun rua ne'e negoseia hela konabá Tasi Timor.

Lista ne'ebé divulga hosi revista Crikey, inklui eis-primeiru-ministru australiana John Howard, eis-ministru Negosiu Estranjeiru Alexander Downer, diplomata no responsavel sira hosi setor judisial no sekreta.

Revista ne'e inklui iha lista ema na'in 11 no petrolifera Woodside, "benefisiadu boot hosi eskándalu sira ne'e", no mós "funsionariu sira Departamentu Negosiu Estranjeiru no Komérsiu" no mós Alexander Downer rasik.

"Mosu informasaun ne'ebé barak liu laos de'it konabá eskándalu, maibé konabá konduta politika estena rejional Australia nian, halo klaru liu tan interese komersial Woodside nian no empreza rekursu sira seluk ne'ebé maka sai faktor determinante iha politika esterna no seguransa Australia nian", refere revista ne'e.

Artigu ne'e publika iha semana ne'e, ho tempu ne'ebé hanesan ho regresu eis-ajente serbisu sekretu australianu nian ba tribunal, 'Sasin K' no ninian advogadu, Bernard Collaery, ne'ebé maka akuzadu ba konspirasaun hosi Ministeriu Publiku nasaun ne'ebá nian no ne'ebé maka julga hela iha Canbera.

Akuzadu sira ne'ebé maka ba fali ona tribunal iha loron-kinta ne'e, sei hetan kastigu másimu tinan rua iha prizaun se karik konsidera sira hanesan kulpadu hosi tribunal. Governu defende katak tanba konteudu kazu ne'e nian ne'ebé maka halao iha tribunal tenki "taka", buat ida ne'ebé maka protesta hosi defeza no kritiku sira ho desizaun hodi akuza mane na'in rua ne'e.

Iha kauza maka kesar ida ne'ebé hato'o hosi parte "Sasin K" ne'ebé fó sai kona-ba eskema eskuta ne'ebé maka monta hosi serbisu sekretu australianu sira iha eskritóriu sira hosi Governu timoroan nian iha Díli.

Tuir relatu sira, hosi eskuta sira ne'e, Governu australianu hetan informasaun ne'ebé permite ajuda hodi favorese intensaun australiana sira nian iha negosiasaun ho Timor-Leste ba fronteira tasi no ba kontrolu zona Greater Sunrise nian, rezerva ida ne'ebé riku ho petróleo no gás.

"Ho protestu seguransa nasional, prokuradór sira hakarak lori julgamentu ne'e dook hosi publiku hodi evita konstranjimentu - karik pior liu - hosi ema barak, enkuantu advogadu sira K no Collaery nain argumenta katak akuzasaun ne'e tenki halao iha audiénsia publika", refere artigu ne'e, no nota mós katak desizaun tribunal nian konabá ne'e sei fó sai iha loron-kinta.

Entre na'in 12 ne'ebé maka "benefisia tanba mantein segredu" hosi prosesu inklui mós Alexander Downer, ne'ebé maka "fó orden ba operasaun ASIS kontra Governu timoroan, hasai rekursu sira ba luta kontra terorismu iha Indonezia hodi nian halo", no hafoin ne'e "konsegue serbisu ida ho prinsipal benefisiariu rezerva submarina petroleu sira nian no gáz Timor-Leste nian, petrolifera Woodside".

Revista ne'e esplika katak, loke prosesu ne'e ba publiku, sei ajuda "esklarese desizaun Downer nian ne'ebé uza ASIS (sekreta australiana) ba benefisiu komersial empreza ida nian".

Howard (Liberais) mós hanesan benefisiariu seluk, ne'ebé maka autoriza desizaun Downer nian hodi "fó fali diresaun ba rekursu sira ba luta kontra terorismu hodi kuida interse komersial sira Woodside nian", no, hanesan ninian ministru "nunka responsabiliza ba asaun sira, ka ba politika ne'ebé boot hodi intimida Timor-Leste ho relasaun ba sira nian rekursu enerjetiku sira".

Benefisiariu sira selukmaka eis-xefe Governu (Traballista) nian, ne'ebé maka "hatán ho forma ne'ebé agrsivu ba tentativa eis-primeiru-ministru Xanana Gusmão hodi rezolve kestaun ne'e ho forma konfidensial iha tinan 2012" no hafoin ne'e hahú investigasaun ba K no Collaery.

Ministru Negosiu Estranjeiru, Bob Carr, iha altura denunsia timoroan nian, prokurador-jeral Mark Dreifys, ne'ebé maka aprova eskuta sira ba Sasin K no ba Bernard Collaery no David Irvine, responsável ASIS nian iha altura ne'ebá, iha mós lista Crikey nian.

Iha lista iha mós Nick Warner, atual diretor-jeral serbisu sekretu sira no xefe ASIS nian ne'ebé maka blokeia tiha devolusaun pasapoprte ba Sasin K, Sarah McNaughton, diretora prokuradoria Públika nian, atual prokurador-jeral Christian Porter, ne'ebé maka ordena akuzasaun ba mane na'in rua ne'e.

George Brandis, ex-prokurador jeral ne'ebé maka fó orden ba kaer K no ba eskritóriu no Collaery nian uma, no mós "ameasa Collaery iha parlamentu", e Margaret Twomey, embaixadora Austrália nian iha tinan 2004 iha períodu eskutas nian iha Timor-Leste, mós halo parte iha lista ne'e.

SAPO TL ho Lusa

MS Presiza Karreta Ambulánsia


DILI: Ministériu Saúde liu husi Diresaun Nasionál Servisu Hospitalar no Emerjénsia presiza karreta ambulánsia atu bele fó asisténsia ba komunidade sira.

Karreta ambulánsia hirak ne’ebé iha kondisaun tuan hotu ona no labele halo operasaun másimu. Ne’e duni, Ministériu Saúde presiza tebes viatura atu fasilita pasiente sira iha tempu emerjénsia.

Diretór Nasionál Servisu Hospitalar no Emerjénsia, Horácio Sarmento da Costa hateten, karreta ambulánsia barak maibé tuan hotu ona. Agora presiza karreta foun para bele substitui ba munisípiu, referénsia no ospitál nasionál sira.

Tuir dadus, karreta ambulánsia ne’ebé funsiona iha territóriu Timor tomak hamutuk 36. Nune’e, iha mós karreta sia maka aat no bele halo manutensaun maibé sei halo gastu osan boot.

“Tuir relatóriu mekánika sira husi Austrália, bele hadi'a mós ho gastu ne’ebé boot”, dehan nia, iha Bekora, horisehik.

Nia hatutan, servisu ambulánsia nian iha tinan oin, tuir planu sei sai institutu autónomu. Ne’e duni, importante atu identifika rekursu hotu-hotu atu kompleta antes hamriik mesak.

PN Preokupa Falta Ambulánsia

Entretantu, Parlamentu Nasionál (PN) liu husi Bankada Partidu Demokrátiku (PD) preokupa tebes falta ambulánsia hodi evakua pasiente husi suku ba ospitál referénsia sira iha munisípiu.

Deputada Elvina Sousa hatete, fiskalizasaun iha munisípiu Manatutu no Aileu, povu sira hato’o rekomendasaun kona-ba menus ambulánsia atu uza hodi ajuda povu sira.

“Ha’u rekomenda ba governu atu tau osan hodi sosa ambulánsia hodi fó ba munisípiu rua, inklui mós munisípiu hotu-hotu”, tenik nia.

Problema ambulánsia la'ós foin akontese, maibé ne’e dala barak ona maibé governu seidauk bele responde.

Deputada ne’e konsidera falta ambulánsia sei difikulta servisu saúde nian iha sentru no postu saúde sira oinsá atu bele halo atendimentu di'ak ba povu.

Tanba ne’e, husu ba Ministériu Saúde atu halo planu polítika atu iha Orsamentu Jerál Estadu (OJE) 2019 bele tau osan hodi halo akizisaun ba ambulánsia foun hodi distribui ba kada postu saúde no sentru saúde sira.

Independente

Ministério das Finanças timorense espera ter Portal da Transparência online na próxima semana


Díli, 13 out (Lusa) - O Ministério das Finanças timorenses só conta ter a funcionar na próxima semana o Portal da Transparência, onde se registam as receitas e gastos do Estado em tempo real e que tem estado indisponível há várias semanas.

"A nossa expectativa é de que na próxima semana já esteja a funcionar todo o sistema de relatórios, incluindo o Portal da Transparência", disse à Lusa o chefe da Unidade do Sistema Integrado de Informação e Gestão Financeira (USIIGF) do Ministério das Finanças, Joanico Pinto.

O responsável da USIIGF confirmou que todo o sistema de pagamentos do Estado está "a funcionar a 100%", depois de dificuldades no processamento de pagamentos sentidas nas últimas semanas por várias divisões de ministérios e algumas instituições do sistema público timorense.

Este problema, que condicionou a ação do Estado, resultou da reconciliação que foi necessária aplicar entre os dados referentes ao Orçamento Geral do Estado de 2018, que só começou a vigorar a partir deste mês e os dados de receitas e despesas aplicados, sob o regime duodecimal, desde 01 de janeiro a 30 de setembro.

Um processo dificultado porque obrigou igualmente a ajustar as categorias orçamentais de acordo com a orgânica do VIII Governo constitucional, em funções há quatro meses.

"Estamos agora a trabalhar nos restantes elementos do sistema de relatórios e no portal. Há muita informação que é necessário alterar e isso necessita de tempo e esforço", explicou.

"Mas todas as instituições podem já processar os seus pagamentos", referiu.

Até final de setembro, quando ainda vigorou o regime de duodécimos, o Governo só tinha executado 553,74 milhões de dólares dos 965,89 milhões de dólares orçamentados (no quadro de duodécimos).

O Orçamento Geral do Estado de 2018, que se começou a aplicar em outubro, ascende a 1.279 milhões de dólares (cerca de 1.100 milhões de euros) e engloba todas as receitas e despesas do Estado e da Segurança Social de Timor-Leste entre 01 de janeiro e 31 de dezembro de 2018.

Na prática, isso implica que até final de setembro o Estado tinha executado apenas 43,7%.

A expetativa do Governo é de conseguir executar cerca de 700 milhões de dólares no último trimestre do ano.

ASP // JMC

What’s Next for Timor-Leste’s Economy?


The country’s state budget has spotlighted how it is dealing with some of the opportunities and challenges in its economic development.

By David Hutt | The Diplomat | October 30, 2018

After more than a year of political uncertainty – which included two general elections in the space of eleven months, one failed minority government, impeachment threats against the president and still some ministries without ministers – Timor-Leste’s governing class looks close to agreeing budgetary matters.

Because of political uncertainty, the state budget for 2018 – which came to $1.2 billion – was only issued on September 27, after months of back and forth in parliament over the costs. Much of this money was paid straight away for state salaries and debts, including a $9.3 million debt to the country’s largest telecoms operation, Timor Telecom, that weren’t paid throughout the year because of the stalemate. If passing the 2018 budget proved a protracted process, trying to decide the state budget for next year has been even more tiresome.

Between September 12 and 18, the Ministry of Finance held a budgetary workshop at which political and non-governmental voices were invited to speak. Days later, the Ministry proposed three options to the Council of Ministers, of which the new Change for Progress Alliance (AMP) coalition government selected by far the costliest: it set the budget ceiling for 2019 at $1.44 billion. A Policy Review Committee was then established, led by Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak and several ministries, which met twice in October. It is thought that the final budget proposal will be delivered to parliament on November 8 – we will then see if parliament accepts it or if, like the 2018 budget, it goes through a protracted negotiation process.

Earlier this month, however, vice-minister of Finance Sara Lobo Brites said that the 2019 budget will be more than the first planned – it is thought this means more than the $1.44 billion, which includes government borrowing, laid out in at the end of September. How much more, however, isn’t yet known. La’o Hamutuk, a local NGO, reports this could include more money set aside for education and healthcare spending (which could be the imposition of Ruak) and $350 million needed to purchase shares from a petroleum firm part of the Greater Sunrise project.

Starting with the latter: In late September, Timor-Leste’s government agreed to purchase U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips’ 30 percent share in the Greater Sunrise gas consortium. The syndicate, led by Woodside Petroleum, which holds a 33.4 percent share, has for years been playing tap a large oil and gas field south of Timor-Leste. But it has long been delayed because sections of Timor-Leste’s political class (especially former Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, whose National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) is the largest party in the ruling AMP coalition) wants the gas to be transported by pipeline to an on-shore processing site in southern Timor-Leste.

The government has already spent roughly $250 million on the Tasi Mane project, most of which has gone to building the Suai airport and the Suai-Fatukai highway. It is thought that Prime Minister Ruak has now set aside another $5 billion from the Petroleum Fund for further investments in the projects. However, most of the foreign partners (though ConocoPhillips was thought to be the most forceful) argued that on-shore processing would be too expensive, unfeasible and cause considerable delays – a “pipe dream,” if you will. Instead, they argued that processing should be done off-shore on a floating platform or in Australia.

But ConocoPhillips owns the gas-processing plant in Darwin, in northern Australia, where they wanted to process the extracted gas, so Timor-Leste’s purchasing of its shares changes the picture somewhat. Moreover, if the deal goes through, then as well as the revenue Timor-Leste will collect for its part-ownership of the oil fields, along with Australia, its national oil company, TimorGap, will control a 30 percent stake in the consortium and, therefore, a 30 percent stake in the profits. However, a very important part which is often overlooked is that as well as the $350 million for ConocoPhillips’s shares, Timor-Leste will have to contribute 30 PERCENT percent of capital costs to the whole development, which is likely to cost several billion dollars and will have to paid upfront, either be taken from the Petroleum Fund or from loans.

Earlier this year, Timor-Leste signed a key maritime border treaty with Australia, part of which included the offer that Timor-Leste could keep more of the proceeds from the gas extraction if it agrees to off-shore processing. It would be 70:30 to Timor-Leste if done on-shore, or 80:20 if offshore or in Australia. Dili doesn’t seem to have taken the bait of what many thought to be a great deal for the country, most likely because of Gusmao, who continues to pull the political strings of the country. For years, Gusmao and other political leaders have argued that on-shore processing would be something of a silver bullet; not only would Timor-Leste receive billions from gas extraction, the Tasi Mane project would also create untold numbers of new jobs, well-needed in a country where unemployment is rife, and create whole new industries.

His critics, including Ruak before he became prime minister, argued it is just a vanity project that will drain the country’s sovereign wealth fund, saddle Timor-Leste with bad debts and, in the end, not really provide anything useful economically. These critics, moreover, say that the money should instead be spent on education, healthcare, and diversifying the country away from oil revenue, which some analysts say has brought to Timor-Leste the “resource curse.”

Indeed, the Bayu-Undan reserves, the country’s main source of oil and gas revenue, are set to run out by 2022. The Petroleum Fund, unless greatly replenished, could be exhausted by 2030 at the latest. About $17.1 billion is left in the fund, but it contributes almost 90 percent of the state budget, which now rarely drop below $1.3 billion (and could be considerably higher from now on), while governments haven’t been shy of taking substantial lump-sums from the fund, such as the billions that will now mostly likely have to go towards paying for the Greater Sunrise project, now that TimorGAP is part of the consortium.

Going into this year’s election, some analysts thought that Timor-Leste’s infrastructure-led development policy, which has been the previous two administration’s focus, would be replaced. Fretlin and the CNRT ran an “informal coalition” between 2015 and 2017, and stuck hard to this policy. Fretilin, which won the election last year but failed to push through its policy as a “minority government,” forcing a fresh election, looked set to continue it. But a political backlash began in 2016, starting chiefly when then-President Ruak began to openly question the infrastructure-led policy. The following year he helped create the People’s Liberation Party (PLP), which campaigned to increase social spending and curb vanity projects. Its drive now seems to have waned as Ruak became Prime Minster and the PLP entered a coalition government, albeit one in which it’s only the second-largest party.

Rather than move towards a more welfarist policy, that puts at center-stage Timor-Leste’s underfunded and underperforming education and healthcare system, as well as its agriculture sector that must be radically improved if the economy is to become sustainable (and not reliant on expensive imports that could be produced locally), the new government has opted for the status-quo. Indeed, La’o Hamutuk notes that the $350 payment for ConocoPhillips’ shares is “more than twice as much as Timor-Leste spends each year to educate our children.”

* Image Credit: Flickr/yeowatzup

Islamic State finds safe haven in the Philippines


One year after the siege of Marawi, Islamic State militants from around the world continue to stream into the southern Philippine island of Mindanao

By BONG S SARMIENTO* | MINDANAO, NOVEMBER 1, 2018 6:40 PM (UTC+8)

Despite Islamic State’s failure last year to establish a caliphate in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, foreign militants continue to flock to the island of Mindanao, waiting in the wings to strike anew.

Security analysts and military officials say at least 100 foreign terrorist fighters are now holed up with a range of local armed groups that have pledged their allegiance to Islamic State.

Filipino troops needed five months to flush out Islamic State-allied Maute and Abu Sayyaf fighters from their positions in Marawi, which one year later has yet to rise from the ashes of the urban war that left its core in ruins.

Rommel Banlaoi, chair of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, claims in an interview with Asia Times that Islamic State foreign fighters are now streaming into Mindanao and that the situation is “getting worse.”

His claim is based on information he collected over several months from state security agencies. “The entry of FTFs (foreign terrorist fighters) to the Philippines continues despite the liberation of Marawi,” Banlaoi told the Asia Times on October 30.

He also says that at least 60 have been identified by state agents through their aliases, while nearly 30 others are unidentified.

The figure is significantly higher than the 48 foreign fighters that the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ intelligence unit said were operating in Mindanao as of January 2018.

A repeat of last year’s months-long siege would be disastrous for the Philippines and the wider region. The urban war left some 1,100 individuals dead, mostly Islamist gunmen, including 32 foreign fighters, according to the Philippine military.

Over 350,000 civilians were displaced by the war that began on May 23 last year, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to place all of Mindanao under rights-curbing martial law. The order will remain in effect until the end of this year.

Duterte, the country’s first president from Mindanao who claims to have meranaw (Marawi residents refer to themselves as such) roots, declared the liberation of Marawi on October 17, 2017.

More than one year on, though, some 70,000 civilians have yet to return to Marawi’s 250-hectare ground zero, a restriction that has fed local anger and resentment in evacuation centers that have emerged as militant recruitment grounds.

Foreign Islamic State fighters often pose as tourists, students overstaying their visas, foreign workers or economic migrants, and at least 10 of them have been arrested since the start of this year, Banlaoi said.

Foreign Islamic State fighters have recently arrived in Mindanao from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, Spain, France, Tunisia, Iraq, Somali, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China, he says, based on government monitoring of the movements.

Most are coming from neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, using Mindanao’s maritime backdoor through the seas of Sulu and Celebes, known as the Sulawesi Sea in Indonesia.

The Malaysian terror suspects usually enter the southern Philippines through the province of Tawi-Tawi from the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo Island, while the Indonesians tend to come through the provinces of Davao Occidental and Sarangani from North Sulawesi.

The three neighboring nations share broad maritime borders in what is considered the second busiest shipping trade route in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“The FTFs regard Mindanao as the new land of jihad, safe haven and alternative home base,” Banlaoi said. “They join local groups to wage jihad in the Philippines on behalf of the Islamic State.”


The foreign Islamic State fighters are luring local militants with the promise of an East Asian Wilaya, or Islamic province, after the failure to establish one in Mindanao after their defeat in Marawi, Banlaoi said.

The Abu Sayyaf Group based in Basilan and Sulu, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters based in Maguindanao, the Ansar Al-Khilafa Philippines based in Sarangani, and the Abu Dar Group in Lanao del Sur, a remnant of the Maute Group, are all coddling the foreign fighters, he said.

Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Besana, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Mindanao Command, said Islamic State continues to inspire local Muslim armed groups despite their military defeat last year at Marawi.

He also said that foreigners who pledge allegiance to the Islamic State continue to join local Islamic militant groups, confirming Banlaoi’s assessment.

“Some of these foreign terrorists are coming in through our porous borders,” Besana said, referring to the Sulu and Sulawesi seas that the Philippines shares with Malaysia and Indonesia.

The military official said the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia have intensified joint navy patrols in border waters in a multilateral cooperation to fight terror threats.

While acknowledging that security forces alone can not detect foreign terrorist fighters because of the nation’s long coastlines and rugged jungles in Mindanao, the official called on the public to report suspicious foreigners to authorities for verification of their identities.

Local militant groups have instead provided sanctuary to foreign terrorists in the past. That includes well-known Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” a bomb-making expert who was killed in Maguindanao province’s Mamasapano town in January 2015.

Marwan was given safe haven by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a Islamic militant group which has recently declared its allegiance to Islamic State and is accused of orchestrating recent bombings in the region.

Besana said foreign terrorist fighters are arriving in Mindanao because of Islamic State’s “waning influence in the Middle East and in other parts of the world.”

Preventing foreign terrorist fighters from entering the country is difficult for the military and other law enforcement agencies because they often disguise their identities. And while Islamic State aligned groups were defeated at Marawi, it’s not clear where or how they intend to strike next, Besana says.


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