Coming to an end

THE rapid and dramatic political turmoil in African nations not only affects the thousands of overseas Filipino workers who are not only earning their keep but are boosting the Philippine economy, it is also telling on the separatist adventurisms and the condition of terrorist organization in south-western Mindanao.

It has never been a secret that these Islamic countries have secretly aided these movements financially. In fact, there were times in the past when they virtually make known their support for separatists and terrorist bands to threaten governments like the Philippines to obey their rules and go slow on extremists elements otherwise the oil spigots will be shutdown and more financial and arms will find their way to these bands.

For decades now, the Philippines have to kowtow to whatever the fancy we have to surrender.

Not anymore. The awakening in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other Arab countries and fundamentalist Islamic nations like Iran, is changing the rules of the game. The expectation is that the flow of terrorist funds will come to a trickle if not totally cut.

We expect kidnap-for-ransom syndicates to raise the frequency of their activities in order to shore up their finances. The separatists elements will have to come to terms with reality that their traditional backers who reside in palaces are themselves threatened by the very monster they themselves created and who are now after their carcass.

The OFWs maybe agonizing, but in some parts of Mindanao, people who are tired of conflicts and terrorism are actually celebrating. Already, some members of terrorist groups have started to leave their comfort zones courtesy of the benefactors from the Middle East and Africa. They are forced to abandon their sanctuaries to scavenge for food in the urban centers. One after the other, they fell like their masters in faraway land.