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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
US exec as persona non grata: Mindanao solons
By Ben O. Tesiorna
FOR saying that Mindanao might just become the next Afghanistan, US charge d' affaires Joseph Mussomeli might just be declared a persona non grata by Congress.
This was the statement made by House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles Tuesday after his colleagues reportedly requested him to spearhead the move to declare Mussomeli as such.
"Mindanao congressmen may file resolution to remove him or declare him persona non grata in the country. We are now discussing this in Congress. Some congressmen are asking me to spearhead the move against Mussomeli," Nograles said.
In an interview last week with SBS-TV Australia, Mussomeli had described Mindanao as "almost the new mecca of terrorism."
"Personally, I'm worried that we're not worried enough. I think the real danger here, and the danger that has been here since the mid-90s, is that we're not focused enough on the threat here," Mussomeli said in the interview.
The threat is more long-term: that Mindanao is such a lawless--certain portions of Mindanao--are so lawless, so porous the borders that you run the risk of it becoming like an Afghanistan situation."
Mussomeli said both governments are aware that certain individuals or factions within the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) set to begin peace talks with Manila on Saturday toward a political settlement to the 26-year-old separatist rebellion, have links with both local and foreign militant groups.
Mussomeli said Washington has "firm" information that these camps were still up and running on Mindanao.
"The threat remains and, frankly, in some ways, it is growing. The number of JI that are there, the links between Jema'ah Islamiyah I and MILF factions and ASG may even be increasing," he said.
Mussomeli said the Philippines military "needed a lot of re-work, rebuilding from the roots up" after the country suffered a long economic crisis over the past decade.
With President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government preoccupied with a looming fiscal crisis, Mussomeli believes Manila is not "devoting enough time to the fight on terrorism."
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 13, 2005 issue)
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