Manila: President Benigno Aquino has said that a Filipino-Muslim militant attack, which may have been inspired by ongoing warfare launched by the Daesh in the Middle East, needs more than a military solution.

The Philippine leader did not say if the government will negotiate with the Filipino-Muslim terror group allied with the Daesh rebels in the southern Philippines.

“You cannot find a military solution to this problem: this idea [or belief] by some sectors that they are dispossessed, disenfranchised, without opportunities, and [are trapped] in a situation where their hopelessness translates into going after some sort of extreme belief — which is being espoused by the IS [Daesh],” Aquino said during the summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Myanmar.

Noting that the military and police are monitoring Daesh-allied groups in the Philippines, Aquino said, “There are people who have been posting their oath of allegiance to the caliph (Daesh). The head of the NSA (National Security Agency) tells me: ‘Sir, all of these people who have been posted and have been identified [as pro Daesh] are the same people we’ve been after [because of their other allegiances]. They are just a rebranding [of their old terror allegiances].”

“If they are part of the [old terror] group, there is the bigger chance that they will be [easily] identified, that they can be stopped prior to the commission of any [terror] act, because they are known [by the intelligence]. [I mean] when you spot one member chances are you will be able to reconnoitre the other members [of the group],” Aquino said.

Despite his confidence in containing militant groups in the southern Philippines who could also launch terror attacks in Metro Manila and other metro areas nationwide, Aquino also warned of another terror attack with a different tactic.

“As far as the Philippines is concerned, we will not rule out lone wolf attacks [by Filipino-Muslims or foreign militants]. A lone wolf is defined as defined as somebody who doesn’t appear on anybody’s data base who suddenly shows up on your shores, does some terror acts then leaves,” said Aquino.

He did not give details.

“The danger always is with the lone wolf who suddenly gets radicalised by a social media site and one day decides, ‘I’ll be a terrorist,’” Aquino said, referring to young adventurists who might be tempted to become terrorists.

He did not say how many young and apolitical Filipinos have embraced Islam, including militant warfare of terror groups in the Philippines.

Aquino’s confidence stems from the pro-autonomy political settlement forged by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in early 2014, after 17 years of talks that began in 1997, which were brokered by Malaysia, a member country of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The Philippine government has forged two pro-autonomy political settlements with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1976 and in 1996, which were brokered by respectively by Libya and Indonesia, also OIC member countries.

Political setbacks followed the forging of several political settlements with Filipino-Muslim rebels.

In October 2013, a faction of the MNLF, led by MNLF founder Nur Misuari, briefly took over several areas in Zamboanga City, in the south in reaction to the peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF (whose peace settlement materialised in early 2014).

In 2008, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) and its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter (BIFF) became a faction of the MILF when the latter pursued peace talks with the Philippine government.

In 1978, the MILF became a faction of the MNLF, when the former reacted to the latter’s pro-autonomy peace settlement with the Philippine government in Libya in 1976.

The Philippine government is also besieged by the Abu Sayyaf Group which was formed in 1991 and is affiliated with the Jemaah Islamiya — the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida.

In August 2014, both the Abu Sayyaf Group and the BIFM posted on YouTube a video presentation alleging alliance with the Daesh.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and former President Fidel Ramos claimed earlier that hundreds of Filipino-Muslims have joined Daesh abroad.

If they come back, they could wage militant wars in the south or in metro areas, Ramos and Duterte warned.

There are five million Filipino-Muslims who have been living alongside growing Christian communities in the southern Philippines. In two elections for autonomy in 1989 and 2001, majority of residents in a total of five provinces and one city in the south voted to be part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Philippine Congress is expected to legislate provisions of the 2014 Philippine government and MILF peace settlement. It could result in another referendum for autonomy and pave the way for the expansion of the ARMM with six towns and more than 600 Muslim-dominated villages.

Residents in these towns and villages had voted (but failed) to be part of the ARMM in a referendum for autonomy in 2001. Votes must them reach majority in the provincial level. Congress approved the holding of a second election for autonomy in 2001 after the Philippine government and the MNLF forged a pro-autonomy peace settlement in 1996.