Thursday, November 02, 2006
Editorial: Special terrorism courts
GOVERNORS and mayors of provinces and cities in Regions 11 and 12 comprising the two regions' peace and order councils meeting jointly in Davao City last Monday have proposed the establishment of special courts to try cases of terrorism in the country.
The proposal, which was formalized into a joint resolution by the RPOCs, came from North Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Piñol. It asked the Supreme Court to designate special courts similar to the ones it created for illegal drugs.
Necessarily, the judges of these anti-terror courts and members of their respective families should enjoy special security arrangements to protect them from reprisals by terror networks, which we all know are ruthless and very well-funded.
Proponent Governor Piñol, whose province has suffered from several terror attacks, derives inspiration from the historic move of Italy in its fight against Mafia, the dreaded Sicily-spawned criminal organization. The Italian strategy worked.
It is hoped that the current leadership of the Supreme Court shares the feeling of urgency of Piñol and his RPOC colleagues and act on their request with dispatch.
Of course, the establishment of special courts for terror cases is just one approach that could hopefully make the country's anti-terror campaign effective. The greater hurdle is still the passage of the Anti-Terrror Bill into a law.
Unfortunately, the bright boys in the Senate are sitting on the urgent proposal, never mind if by doing so they are in effect leaving their helpless fellow countrymen, specially in Mindanao, at the mercy of terrorists who, even if arrested, without an anti-terror law, can not be held long enough before a formal case is filed.
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For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (November 2, 2006 issue)
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