Philippines, Indonesia to Conduct Bilateral Patrol in Celebes Sea

Updated at 12:39 p.m. ET on 2017-07-07

The Philippines said Monday it would launch a joint patrol with the Indonesian navy this week in the Celebes Sea bordering both countries, amid concerns that militants could cross over to aid Islamic State-backed Filipino fighters in southern Marawi city.

Ceremonies for the coordinated maneuvers will begin Tuesday in the southern Philippine city of Davao, and the week-long naval operation will get under way on Thursday, according to Filipino military and government officials. Davao City is about 1,500 km (937 miles) south of Manila.

This activity is aimed at strengthening the security of the two countries, especially between their common borders,” Philippine presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said during a press briefing in Manila.

“Likewise, we aim to improve the interoperability of our forces with the sharing of information and exchange of best practices,” he added.

Part of the joint operation is a medical mission by personnel by both navies, and the operation is to culminate in Manado, Indonesia, on July 12, according to the Philippine military.

In Jakarta, a spokesman for the Indonesian military could not immediately confirm information about the joint naval maneuvers when contacted by BenarNews late Monday (local time).

Coordinated activities

The upcoming joint patrol will follow a one-day naval maneuver between Philippine and U.S. naval forces.

On June 19, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines launched trilateral security patrols in the Sulu Sea bordering the three countries. They also agreed to set up maritime command centers in Tarakan, North Kalimantan, in Indonesia; Tawau, Sabah, in Malaysia; and Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines.

The sea patrols were launched amid heightened concerns that regional militants from Indonesia and Malaysia would try to sneak into the southern Philippines to help their comrades engaged in clashes with Philippine troops in the southern city of Marawi, a former Muslim trading hub.

The gunmen, fighters from the local Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups, backed by Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern fighters, are battling under the flag of the Islamic State (IS). They control a portion of Marawi, which has been emptied by its 200,000 residents.

On Monday, Abella said the fighting, which began on May 23, has left 39 civilians dead – adjusted from 44 given on Friday after an apparent error on police reports.

Officials said 336 militants and 84 security forces had been killed in the fighting, including two soldiers and 14 extremists who died in clashes over the weekend.

The Philippines also continued holding regular joint military exercises with the United States despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-U.S. rhetoric in favor of boosting ties with Russia and China.

American spy planes have been assisting the Filipino forces and several troops have been providing technical assistance on the ground. They are barred from actual combat, but are armed and can protect themselves if they come under attack.

The fighting has concentrated in Marawi’s central business district, where the gunmen have posted snipers on several buildings, including mosques, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Monday.

He said advancing troops were moving steadily and that 70 to 100 houses were being cleared every day even as “it will take them some time to clear the area” of fighters.

It “may take a lot of time for recovery and rehabilitation because there are lots of buildings destroyed because of our aerial bombings and also because of the actions of the enemy blowing up buildings, as well and burning houses,” he said.

Hunting down Hapilon

Lorenzana said Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the acknowledged local IS leader, was believed to be still inside Marawi, contrary to earlier reports by the military that he escaped.

“In fact, there is an information we got this morning that he’s hiding in one of the mosques there in Marawi,” Lorenzana said, adding that intelligence operatives stationed in the nearby island of Basilan have reported they haven’t seen the rebel leader.

“So we still believe that he is still in Marawi,” he said.

Of the 200 members of the Maute group earlier named as wanted in connection with the rebellion, 66 have already been arrested, including the parents of the leaders – mother Farhana and father Cayamora, Lorenzana said.

Local military spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera said the slow forward movement of troops indicated that they were “closing in” on the enemy targets.

“But our clearing combat operations still continue. We have also recovered war materials and weapons left behind by the enemies,” Herrera said.

“We will come to point wherein we will not use any more airstrikes. The purpose only of using the airstrikes is to soften the strong defensive position of the enemies,” he said.

Herrera said troops were checking Hapilon’s whereabouts inside the war zone. He insisted that Hapilon could not be contacted and that he had “lost their command in control.”

Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said that tightened security patrols in the high seas with the help of the country’s foreign allies had helped stop the Abu Sayyaf’s “criminal activities.”

“Any abduction in the high seas was one of the principal criminal activities that they have been doing and that we wanted to address, something that was a cause of national embarrassment,” he said.

In the past three months there has been no news of Abu Sayyaf-led abductions. “So we have successfully degraded the capability and the capacity of this group to undertake many of these criminal activities that have been undertaken in the high seas,” Padilla said.

He called on those still fighting in Marawi to surrender.

“We don’t like to kill,” he said. “But if they keep on fighting and they keep on doing criminal activities, we will have to do what we need to do.”

An earlier version contained a photo caption with wrong information about the location where the action was taking place.