Manila: While the Philippines is making progress in its anti-terrorism efforts, a host of concerns such as overlapping jurisdictions of the numerous government agencies and limited ability to prosecute suspected terrorists, still hound government agencies.

In the Country Report on Terrorism 2016 that was released on Thursday, the US State Department said that while the Philippines continued to make progress against terrorism in 2016, domestic and international concerns such as the emergence of Daesh affiliated groups and continued kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf, remained a serious concern.

“Philippine military and police counterterrorism efforts kept up pressure on terrorist organisations, but were unable to prevent numerous attacks against government, public, and private facilities, primarily in Central and Western Mindanao. Terrorist groups retained the ability and intent to conduct bombings, shootings, and ambushes against targets of their choice, as seen in a November 28 incident in which a bomb was discovered and disarmed near the US Embassy in Manila,” the report said.

It also noted the change in leadership that saw the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2016 also meant a reorganisation in priorities including the function of the government’s two main law-enforcement arms — the military and the police. This made coordination between the two agencies a matter of concern.

“President Duterte’s focus on anti-narcotics and counterterrorism operations slowed progress towards shifting internal security functions from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to the Philippine National Police (PNP). The PNP is responsible for ensuring peace and security throughout the country, including arresting terrorists and conducting terrorism investigations. The AFP, including special operation units, often supplants the PNP as the primary force tasked with counterterrorism operations, and coordination between the two services is improving, but remained a challenge in 2016,” the report said.

“Units with a specialised counterterrorism focus, including the National Bureau of Investigation, the PNP Special Action Force (PNP-SAF), and the Bureau of Immigration have enhanced investigative, crisis response, and border security capacity. Multiple agencies have jurisdiction over counterterrorism efforts, leading to inefficient investigations and response to terrorist incidents,” it added.

It also added that to enable law enforcement agencies to counter threats and “violent terrorism” from groups such Abu Sayyaf, Dawlah Islamiyah Lanao (DIL), commonly referred to as the Maute Group; and Ansar Al Khalifa Philippines,” the Philippine government should amend its anti-terrorism law, particularly the Human Security Act (HSA).

“Use of the law has been limited by strict procedural requirements in the HSA, including requirements to notify subjects of electronic surveillance and monetary damages for every day of detention if an individual is acquitted. No convictions under the HSA were reported during 2016, and no groups were designated as terrorist organisations in 2016,” it said.

“The president’s Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) provides guidance to agencies responsible for enforcing terrorism laws, but its capacity to enforce coordination between agencies is limited,” it said.

It added that while Philippine agencies actively coordinated with US authorities, especially regarding suspected terrorists, “the under-resourced law enforcement and judicial system, coupled with widespread official corruption, continued to limit domestic investigations and resulted in a small number of prosecutions and lengthy trials of terrorism cases.”

“Investigators and prosecutors lacked necessary tools to build strong cases, including a lack of clear processes for requesting judicially authorised interceptions of terrorist communications, entering into plea bargains with key witnesses, and seizing assets of those suspected of benefiting from terrorism,” it said.