AFP aims to defeat local terror groups ahead of Duterte's deadline

Armed Forces chief Gen. Eduardo Año on Saturday night said the military is targeting to end the threat of local terror groups in the Philippines in less than six months.

"Two months (have passed), we still have four months to go, but if we can accomplish it less than six months...," Año said in an interview in Baguio City, where he attended the Philippine Military Academy alumni homecoming.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had said that President Rodrigo Duterte gave the military a six-month deadline to defeat local terror groups including the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the Maute Group, the Ansar Al-Khilafah Philippines and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

"The momentum is on our side," said Año, citing the military's neutralization of eight ASG members in Sulu earlier this month.

He also cited the new commanders assigned to lead the AFP's push against the local terror groups including Maj. Gen Carlito Galvez of the Western Mindanao Command and Col. Cirilto Sobejana, new commander of the Joint Task Force Sulu.

He added that the morale of the troops fighting the local terror groups are high with the support coming directly from Duterte.

Año had revealed that there is an ongoing operation aimed at neutralizing ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon, described by Duterte as the "top honcho" of the Islamic State in the country.

The military is pursuing a report that Hapilon has joined leader of the Maute Group in Butig, Lanao del Sur.

"The ongoing operations also in Lanao del Sur targeting Isnilon Hapilon and the Maute brothers," the AFP chief said.

He added that aside from pursuing the terror groups' leaders, the military is also putting pressure to the bandits "but to reduce their capacity to fight and their will to fight."

The military had said that Hapilon moved to Lanao del Sur late in 2016 to create a caliphate of the ISIS with the Maute brothers.

Meanwhle, Año clarified that the AFP's main focus is to reduce the fighting capability and will to fight of the bandits instead of wiping out the local terror groups.

Based on the AFP's estimates, the combined force of the ASG, the Maute Group, BIFF and the Ansar Al-Khilafah Philippines is less than 1,000.

"Its about strategic victory. The momentum is on our side and they will lose their will to fight and eventually some of them will lie low, some of them will surrender and we will convince even more the community to support our operating troops," he said. —ALG, GMA News