MANILA, Philippines — Authorities in Australia and the Philippines are investigating a recent trip to Mindanao by a father and son accused of killing 15 people in a shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, amid questions about whether they had any links to militant groups in the southern Philippines.
The inquiry follows statements by Australian police that the attack was inspired by the Islamic State group. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the assessment was based on evidence, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.”
Philippine immigration authorities said the suspects stayed in the Philippines from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28, with Davao City as their final destination before returning to Australia.
Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Año told The Associated Press that an investigation is underway to determine whether the suspects had any contact or training with local militants. However, he said no evidence has emerged to support that possibility.
“There is no indicator or any information that they underwent training” in Mindanao, Año said.
Mindanao, the southern third of the Philippine archipelago, has long been the center of separatist conflicts involving minority Muslims in the predominantly Catholic country. Centuries of Spanish and American colonial rule, followed by large-scale Christian settlement, reduced Muslims to a minority in the resource-rich region, fueling disputes over land, political power and resources.
Since the 1970s, an estimated 150,000 combatants and civilians have been killed in intermittent fighting in the south, leaving Mindanao as the poorest region in the country. For years, Western and Asian governments feared the conflicts could provide fertile ground for Islamic extremism in Southeast Asia.
Among the foreign militants who once sought refuge in Mindanao was Umar Patek, an Indonesian member of Jemaah Islamiyah linked to al-Qaida. He was convicted of helping make the explosives used in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and was arrested in Pakistan in 2011, Philippine security officials said.
Peace efforts significantly changed the security landscape. A 1996 agreement between the Philippine government and Muslim separatists allowed thousands of fighters to return to their communities while retaining their firearms. A broader 2014 peace pact later granted expanded Muslim autonomy in exchange for the gradual disarmament of rebel forces.
That agreement led to the creation of the Bangsamoro autonomous region and transformed former rebel leaders into regional administrators. It also positioned the former rebel fronts as key partners in countering the Islamic State group’s attempts to establish a foothold in Mindanao.
Several smaller factions, including the Abu Sayyaf group, rejected the peace deals. Abu Sayyaf gained notoriety for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings and was designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the Philippines. Most of its leaders, many of whom pledged allegiance to Islamic State, were later killed in military operations, including the 2017 siege of Marawi City by Philippine forces supported by U.S. and Australian surveillance aircraft.
According to senior Philippine security officials, years of military offensives have severely weakened Abu Sayyaf and other armed groups. A confidential joint military and police assessment seen by the AP found no indication of foreign militant presence in the southern Philippines after the last remaining groups were “neutralized” in 2023.
Earlier this month, the Philippine army reported the killing of a suspected bomb maker and leader of Dawlah Islamiyah-Hassan, a group linked to Islamic State, in Maguindanao del Sur province.
Sidney Jones, a U.S.-based analyst specializing in militant movements in Southeast Asia, said the recent decline of extremist activity makes Mindanao an unlikely destination for foreign fighters.
“The level of violence in Mindanao is high, but for the last three years, it’s almost all been linked to elections, clan feuds, or other sources,” Jones said. “If I were a would-be ISIS fighter, the Philippines would not have been my top destination.”
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
- Venus L Peñaflor
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