By Ronel Manalo
Despite being the focus of counterinsurgency for four decades, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) continues to pose severe security threats to the Philippines (see Figure 1[i]) and the Southeast Asian region. Based in Basilan, Sulu, and Tawitawi of southern Philippines, the insurgency uses principally terrorism and criminality in its quest for a separate Islamist state. This objective derives from a contested polity, wherein legitimacy has been lost in marginalized areas that have been ...