Terrorist groups - home based:
Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG): aim(s): establish an Islamic State in the Philippines' Mindanao Island and, ultimately, an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia area(s) of operation: headquartered in southern Philippines in Western Mindanao and active in Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi provinces in the Sulu Archipalego; conducts bombings, shootings, beheadings, assassinations, and kidnappings; kills military and police personnel and bombs their facilities; as of mid-2017 supreme leader, Isnilon HAPILON, continued to lead ASG's and Maute Group's (a.k.a. Islamic State of Lanao) seige of Marawi that started on 23 May 2017, when government forces attempted to capture HAPILON in the Lanao de Sur Province's capital; the Maute Group is a fellow ISIL-affiliated organization; over 500 people had died in the conflict (89 security personnel and approximately 65 civilians and 353 militants) and over 471,224 others had been displaced by early July 2017; ASG engages heavily in kidnappings for ransom and kills hostages when ransoms are denied, such as beheading German hostage Jurgen KANTNER on 27 February 2017 and Canadian hostages Robert Hall on 13 June 2016 and John Ridsdel on 25 April 2016; reportedly, ASG was holding more than 20 foreign hostages as of February 2017; operatives bombed the 10,000-ton Superferry 14 on 27 February 2004 in the Philippines, killing 116 people; as of 2017, the ship's bombing remains the world's deadliest terrorist attack at sea; assessed in 2016 to have over 400 fighters, although several of them were reportedly killed in 2017 during clashes in Marawi
Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA): aim(s): destablize the Philippines' economy to inspire the populace to revolt against the government and, ultimately, overthrow the Philippine Government to install a communist regime area(s) of operation: this decades-long Maoist-inspired armed group operates throughout most of the country, primarily in rural regions, with its strongest presence in the Sierra Madre Mountains, rural Luzon, Visayas, and parts of northern and eastern Mindanao; maintains cells in Manila, Davao City, and other metropolitan areas; before entering into formal peace talks with the Philippine Government on 19 January 2017—with the National Democratic Front representing the group—leaders deployed operatives to launch lethal attacks against Philippine Military forces, government officials, government facilities, infrastructure (including power facilities, telecommunication towers, and bridges), foreign enterprises, and businesses that refused to pay extortion or "revolutionary taxes"; at least 30,000 people in the Philippines have been killed in its attacks since its inception in March 1969; killed four US military personnel in the Philippines during the 1980s and continues to oppose US military and commercial presence; estimated in late 2015 to have 4,000 male and female members, down from its peak strength of approximately 26,000 in the 1980s; in recent years, the Philippine Government has referred to the group as CNN, short for the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF)

Terrorist groups - foreign based:
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): aim(s): establish a branch in Lanao de Sur Province area(s) of operation: as of mid-2017, ISIL-affiliates Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Maute Group (a.k.a. Islamic State of Lanao) continued to control Marawi, Lanao de Sur Province's capitol; under ASG's supreme leader, Isnilon HAPILON, the two groups attacked Marawi on 23 May 2017, when government forces attempted to capture HAPILON; over 500 people had died in the conflict (89 security personnel and approximately 65 civilians and 353 militants) and over 471,224 others had been displaced by early July 2017
Jemaah Islamiya (JI): aim(s): enhance its networks in the Philippines and, ultimately, overthrow the Philippine Government and establish a pan-Islamic state across Southeast Asia area(s) of operation: maintains an operational and recruitment presence, especially in the south; longstanding bases include JI's Camp Jabal Quba on Mount Cararao in Lanao del Sur Province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; 25 January 2015 members ambushed a police anti-terrorism squad conducting a raid in Maguindaneo Province's city of Mamasapano in the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao, killing 44 police officers and three civilians; incarcerated members radicalize and recruit fellow prisoners