Friday, September 02, 2005
Terror tag on Mindanao unfair
SEVERAL Mindanaoans protested the new tag on Mindanao as a "terrorist academy" for international terrorist groups Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and al-Qaeda.
Many said the terror tag is unfair to many Mindanaoans considering that majority of Mindanaoans are peace loving and law-abiding citizens.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the statement of a security official that Mindanao is like a "terrorist academy" is "pure hogwash unless backed up by solid evidence".
"At this point that's government sponsored gossip that should not even see print," Pimentel said.
Davao City Councilor Mabel Sunga-Acosta, meanwhile, said the tag is a "big disservice to Mindanao."
"Terrorism happens anywhere and anytime in the world. Don't pick on Mindanao. A lot of good things are happening here that deserves more media mileage," Acosta said.
City Administrator Wendel Avisado said it is a "sweeping statement."
"Perhaps in Abu Sayyaf controlled areas and even in those controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, assuming that they are still on a very close working relationship, but not in whole of Mindanao," Avisado said.
Davao del Sur Representative Douglas Ra Cagas branded the statement as exaggerated.
"That's an exaggeration if you liken it to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA). But there are reports and evidences that show that there are terrorists' training areas in Mindanao. Our authorities should multiply their efforts to counter this. It's time to pass the anti-terrorism bill," Cagas said.
Councilor Bonifacio Militar, meanwhile, said he just hope that the security official's statement is not true "otherwise we are in hell."
The official, who requested anonymity, earlier told Associated Press that JI) trainees are taught how to make bombs, plant them, then set them off in test missions designed to help militants perfect their techniques to complete the course.
JI, al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian ally, is sharing bomb-making expertise with Muslim militants in the Philippines, providing at least nine explosive designs and eight chemical recipes to help ragtag insurgents become more lethal, police and military authorities also told the Associated Press.
The results: 116 people killed in the country's worst terror attack, a series of high-tech explosions and close cooperation among local and foreign militants using Mindanao as a training ground following the loss of al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
While US-backed offensives have overrun established camps in the Mindanao region in the last couple of years, training by al-Qaeda-linked Indonesian operatives continued on a limited basis with militants setting up classes and plotting attacks, reports said. (BOT)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (September 2, 2005 issue)
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