By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – A Quezon City court has convicted a 32-year-old woman to up to 20 years in prison for her part in the financing network of extremist groups in Southeast Asia, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday.
Myrna Ajijul Mabanza, the wife of Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Anas, aka Muhajirin, was convicted for 13 counts as an accessory to violations of Republic Act 10168, otherwise known as the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, following a financial investigation conducted by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Secretariat.
She was sentenced to a penalty of up to one year and seven months imprisonment for each of the thirteen counts, to be served successively.
She was likewise ordered to pay a fine of PHP100,000 per offense, or a total of PHP1.3 million, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of failure to pay.
Mabanza was arrested in February last year and was identified as a major financial conduit for terrorist groups in the region.
“She had long operated behind the scenes, funneling funds and facilitating movements on behalf of ISIS-Philippines (ISIS-P) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). In 2018, she was designated by the US Department of the Treasury as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for her involvement in transferring substantial sums — including over USD100,000 — to then ISIS-P leader Isnilon Hapilon,” the DOJ said in a news release.
Mabanza also coordinated directly with ISIS elements in Syria and facilitated the travel of foreign extremists into the Philippines, including representatives of Indonesia-based Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), for the procurement of firearms and the establishment of training camps, it added.
Last year, the Zamboanga City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 33 found Mabanza’s cohort, Norkisa Omar Asnalul, also known as Norkisa Omar Ibno, guilty of three counts of violation of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
The two women were involved in the transfer of funds with the leader of Islamic State East Asia, the late Isnilon Hapilon, and served as intermediaries between Hapilon and Daesh (ISIS) elements in Syria.
The DOJ led Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) welcomed Mabanza’s conviction.
“This is what accountability looks like. The conviction of Myrna Mabanza is proof that the Philippine government is serious, resolute, and capable of dismantling the support networks that allow terrorism to thrive. We will pursue every individual who dares to finance terror, and we will hold them to the full extent of the law,” Executive Secretary and ATC Chairperson Lucas Bersamin said. (PNA)
