France assures support, sharing of intelligence with PH gov’t in worldwide war on terrorism

France is ready to intensify intelligence sharing with the Philippine government to combat terrorism and extremism.

French Ambassador Thierry Mathou said Manila and Paris can strengthen anti-terror cooperation and step up intelligence sharing, as he expressed France’s serious concern about the Marawi crisis.

“We are all very concerned. All the partners of the Philippines are concerned,” he said. “This issue of terrorism, is a concern for all of us. As we know we had attacks in Europe, in France, now it’s in the Philippines. So it’s an interest for all of us to fight together.”

Speaking at an interview during the recent launch of a book on the 70th anniversary of French-Philippine relations.

Mathou said his government may not be able to offer

assistance on the ground, but it can be of help in counter-terrorism information sharing.

“You know in this kind of issue, the exchange of information, intelligence, is always important,” he said. He said the fight against terrorism should be intensified. “It’s a common issue we have to face altogether,” he said. “It’s a global issue, it’s a global challenge.”

He said in France, they address terrorism by giving more power to their police, which he said, is effective in dealing with terror threats.

“Well, so far we have what we called at state of emergency. It’s different, it’s not martial law. We give more power to our police to deal with the issue,” Mathou said.

“And at the moment, as you know, we have a new parliament… and we are considering introducing in our law a new system to meet the emergency. I mean, obviously we have to take exceptions on measures to fight against this problem,” he said.

The French top diplomat in the country vowed that France remains a committed development partner of the Philippines.

Last week, foreign ministers and top security and intelligence officials from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia met in Manila to fortify trilateral defense and intelligence ties to fight terrorism.

The meeting was aimed at preventing extremists from establishing operational bases in the Southeast Asian region. The next trilateral security meeting will be held in October, 2017.

Last June 19, 2017, joint maritime operations by Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines were launched in Tarakan, North Kalimantan, Indonesia, to fight transnational crimes and terrorism in the Sulu Sea. ‘Decisive resolution’ vowed There will be a “decisive resolution” of the rebellion mounted by Islamic State-linked militants in Marawi City to prevent a spillover of threats elsewhere in the country, presidential spokesman

Ernesto Abella said yesterday.

“The AFP remains committed to the decisive resolution of this rebellion to ensure that the MauteDaesh/ISIS terrorist rebels will not be able to pose a threat in any part of the Philippines,” Abella said.

“The support and active participation of local government units and the citizens will play a key role in ensuring that terrorism shall not thrive in this part of Asia,” he said.

Since the violence erupted last month, some 290 rebels have been killed in the fighting while 347 weapons have been recovered by troops. Government casualties, on the other hand, reached 70 as of June 25.

Abella said the military operations will focus on “continuous clearing of Marawi of remaining armed terrorists that continue to pose pockets of resistance to the advancing troops.”

He said troops have regained control of strategic vantage points and continue to get deeper into previously held enemy positions. The military offensive is calibrated due to the enemies’ use of human shields, sniper fire, and improvised explosive devices, he said.

“Enemy resistance continues to wane and enemy-held areas continue to diminish as government security forces press their advance,” he said.

Malacañang assured that relief operations continued for families displaced by the conflict in Marawi. The military is prepared to help in the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts as soon as the rebellion is quelled, Abella said.

“Gen. Eduardo Año, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff, said it has prepared the Combat Engineering Brigades from the Army and the Navy for immediate deployment as soon as the clearing operations are completed,” he said. (With a report from Genalyn D. Kabiling)