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Monday, September 19, 2005
11 terror groups operate in country: solon
DAVAO CITY -- The Philippines has the most number of known terrorist groups among eight countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania, based on the latest report issued by the US Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC)--the primary center for US government analysis of international terrorism.
According to Cebu Representative Eduardo Gullas, the center has listed at least 11 foreign and indigenous terrorist groups now operating in the Philippines.
Listed by the NCTC as terrorist groups operating in the Philippines are: Abdurajak Janjalani Brigade (AJB), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB), Free Vietnam Revolutionary Group (FVRG), Indigenous People's Federal Army (IPFA), Jemaah Islamiya (JI), Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), New People's Army (NPA), and al Qaeda.
Gullas, who is a former House majority leader, is principal author of proposed new legislation that seeks to define and codify terrorist acts and lift restrictions on evidence gathering against suspected terrorists.
"It has become absolutely imperative for us to pass a tough new anti-terrorism law. Otherwise, we will be left behind by other countries," Gullas said in a press statement.
"There will be dire implications once we get left behind. Terrorist groups fleeing other countries that adopt vigorous new measures will find refuge here, since we will be perceived as a relatively safer haven," Gullas warned.
Gullas said the NCTC's Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (Wits), made public only in July through the center's website, documented at least 51 terrorist attacks in the Philippines in 2004.
Gullas said the 51 attacks claimed a total of 446 victims: 225 people killed, 215 others injured, and six taken hostage.
The deadliest attack was the bombing of a passenger ship in Manila on February 27, 2004. The attack, which the NCTC blamed on "Islamic extremists (Sunni)", killed 132 people.
From January to May 2005, Gullas said the NCTC has so far posted at least 25 terrorist attacks in the Philippines, but no other details were readily available.
The NCTC lists a total of 786 terrorist groups operating worldwide. Of that number, the center said 36 groups operate in Southeast Asia and Oceania--the region to which the Philippines belongs.
Apart from the Philippines, the other countries in the region and their listed number of terrorist groups are as follows: Indonesia, nine; Malaysia, eight; Cambodia, three; Australia, two; and Papua New Guinea, Singapore and Vietnam, one each.
The region with the most number of listed terrorist groups is Western Europe, with 232, followed by the Middle East-Persian Gulf with 134. East-Central Asia has the fewest terrorist groups at 18. North America has 51.
The US State Department earlier criticized the Philippines for failing to enact a strong new anti-terrorism law that would enable the police to crack down on the financiers of local terrorist groups.
Last month, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Philippine authorities were hunting 10 Indonesian extremists who were feared to be plotting suicide attacks.
At least two of the Indonesians, from an extremist faction linked to al Qaeda, were already believed to be in Metro Manila looking for likely targets with the aid of their local cohorts from the Abu Sayyaf Group, according to Gonzales. (PR/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(September 19, 2005 issue)
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