Tuesday, October 17, 2006 Editorials: Still best place for summit
The spate of bombings in Mindanao has naturally invited speculations from some sectors in Cebu as the province girds for the hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in December.
One police official was heard saying last week that they are looking into reports that wanted Jemaah Islamiyah bomber Dulmatin was already in Cebu.
Some people raised the possibility that the bombings in Mindanao were meant to divert attention away from the real target, which is Cebu or the summit.
Speculations
Making speculations and imagining scenarios are part of the arsenal of tacticians to ensure that responses to possible hitches in an activity will be planned in advance.
Overdoing these, however, may result in confusion and paralysis.
The worry that Cebu will be bombed before and even during the summit is a legitimate one and should push all Cebuanos to be vigilant.
But that worry should be ranged against various aspects of reality, including geography, existing terrorist network and the security build-up being put in place here.
Terrorism
Admittedly, the fact that in the past weeks robbers were able to work through the security net initially in place for the summit is a cause for concern.
One can add there the usual police claim that many of the robbers operating in Cebu come from Mindanao—an admission of the difficulty in preventing outsiders from doing their thing in the province.
But terrorism is a different matter altogether, because unlike other forms of crime, that is where the attention of those behind the summit security is focused on.
Good place
Besides, there are other factors that even the most determined terrorist should contend with, like Cebu’s location and the lack of a base from which to spring an attack.
These limitations will even become more formidable for terrorists to overcome once the Asean summit nears, all the augmentation troops arrive and assistance from other countries filters in.
Understanding this is important so the public won’t become jumpy or sleepless every time reports of terrorist attacks from other areas occur or, worse, lose confidence in the security net gradually being put in place in the province.
The point is that, compared with other islands in the country, Cebu is still a good place for the summit, especially in terms of securing the dignitaries coming in.
