DND chief says PHL using international networks to verify ISIS recruitment report

Department of National Defense

MANILA — Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin announced Thursday that the country is using its international networks to determine the authenticity of reports claiming that members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) conducted a recruitment drive in Davao City last July.

Aside from its foreign assets, the DND chief said that he has instructed local intelligence operators to verify this report.

“So far, we are still to get any feedback or information especially on the claims that (around 100 Filipino-Muslim) youths have left the Philippines to join the fighting in the Middle East,” Gazmin said in Filipino.

Earlier, former president Fidel V. Ramos and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte claimed that ISIS recruited 100 Filipino-Muslims to join in the ongoing fighting in Syria and Iraq.

“We have talked with Mayor Duterte but he refused to identify his source, which of course justifiable since he is protecting the latter. So far, we requested our international networks to help verify this information,” he said.