Chaos has erupted in the Philippines due to violence of rebel groups and dangerous prison breakouts. On December 28, 2016, 100 armed gunmen stormed a Kidapawan jail in the south of the Philippines, triggering the escape of at least 150 prisoners. The North Cotabato District Jail, in the violence-plagued island of Mindanao, previously held 1,511 prisoners, but was severely understaffed and housed the prisoners in an old, dilapidated school building in a forest.

The prisoners frantically escaped together by attacking the guards and stacking their mattresses up high enough to the windows of the old school. One guard was shot and killed, and another was wounded. Five prisoners died in a two-hour shootout between guards and the rebel gunmen, and the guards shot an innocent townsperson after he was mistaken for an escaping prisoner. The remaining guards managed to capture eight prisoners that attempted to escape.

According to The New York Times, the attack was led by a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who recently signed a peace treaty with the Philippines. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, is a group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region for the Moro people, meaning that they want a dependent territory with some degree of self-governance. These territories are usually held by a national minority, like the Moro, the Muslim minority in the Philippines. In early 2014, a peace treaty was signed between MILF and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) after twenty years of negotiation in order to put an end to the violence and killing coming from both the government and MILF. If MILF obtained their autonomous territory, named ‘Bangsamoro’, MILF would turn over their firearms and work together with Philippine government.

Although MILF seems to be trying to work together with the country, there are certain extremist factions who broke away from the pack to dedicate themselves to ISIS, and are determined to keep fighting under the name of MILF for ISIS’ final goal: to create a huge, unified, Muslim territory where they can enforce their extremist beliefs.

As of now, MILF as a whole is not believed to affiliate with ISIS. MILF has claimed that they do not stand with the actions of these breakaway groups and did not have anything to do with the escape, but many government officials hesitate to accept this due to their past displays of violence.

Casey Tyler ’20, says, “It’s a shame that there are factions of the group that are being violent and extreme, because it makes the whole group look bad and takes away the meaningfulness of the peace treaty”.

The raid is considered rescue effort for comrades to bring their fellow fighters home, in order to train, recruit, and grow stronger. Breakaway groups who have given up their lives in order to follow ISIS grow restless and more violent, particularly in the south of the Philippines.

“It’s really scary, all the violence that’s going around, especially when it’s targeted at prisons, because convicted felons and very dangerous people are being freed and joining rebel groups. They are getting their hands on even more weapons, and making the southern Philippines a more dangerous place,” says Courtney Thomson, ’20.

Currently, there is still an open manhunt for the prisoners, and the government continues to work on preventing violent attacks like these on the country. The city of Mindanao mourns the loss of their guard and innocent townsperson, and the whole country hopes for the success of the hard work towards peace with the government, MILF, and other supportive groups that hope to improve the country.