Counterterrorism
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Features
Former insurgents relinquish weapons
Benar News Former separatist insurgents in the southern Philippines relinquished thousands of firearms as part of a peace deal with the nation’s central government, their leader announced in late September 2022. Murad Ebrahim, also known as Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, made the announcement during the opening of parliamentary sessions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.…
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Features
Maritime Domain Awareness
FORUM Staff | Photos By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Securing maritime borders requires more than merely having the technology to detect anomalies; it must also include a workforce trained to analyze the data. People with skills to know what they’re seeing and how to explain and report it are a key component to deterrence. And the United…
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Illicit Activity
Philippine Air Force enhancing counterinsurgency, anti-terrorism capabilities with attack helicopters
Maria T. Reyes As part of its ongoing defense modernization, the Philippines is scheduled to receive two additional Turkish-made T129 ATAK helicopters in early 2023. The U.S. $269 million contract, which included the delivery of four T129s in 2022, is intended to strengthen the nation’s internal security measures against insurgencies and terrorism, as well as contribute to its external defense…
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Asymmetric Threats
Prospects and Possibilities
Dr. Ng Eng Hen/Singapore Ministry of Defence The last time I was speaking at the Putrajaya Forum was four years ago. It would not be an exaggeration to state that since we met four years ago, the world has changed, precipitated by not one, but two epochal events — COVID and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. These singular challenges…
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Departments
Indo-Pacific Terror Threat
BENARNEWS Photos by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Terrorist threats in Southeast and South Asian countries declined in 2021, a Singapore think tank said in its annual threat assessment published in January 2022, noting that COVID-19 movement restrictions had “flattened the curve of terrorism.” There were fewer terror-related incidents in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines as governments battled the pandemic, according to…
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Features
Advancing Special Operations
Maj. Gen. Francisco Ariel A Felicidario III, Commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Special Operations Command (AFP SOCOM), sat down with FORUM for an interview April 1, 2022, the fourth anniversary of AFP SOCOM, during the 37th iteration of Balikatan, a joint exercise of the Philippines and the United States. The celebration capped the AFP’s announcement that SOCOM…
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