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By Anthony Vargas, Reporter
GOVERNMENT security officials describe as very
productive their campaign in 2007 against lawless elements,
particularly against terrorists. They are also confident of
continuing their victories against communist rebels.
The conviction, capture, arrests and death of
several Islamic militants, particularly in restive parts of
Mindanao, do show that the government is indeed winning the war.
At the start of 2007, several terrorist
“sleeper” (hitherto inactive) cells in Metro Manila were
dismantled or rendered useless after their members surrendered, were
killed during police raids or captured.
On May 1, about eight members of a “sleeper
terror cell” in Manila’s Tondo district surrendered to military
troops, which had been deployed in that depressed district to do
civil action (humanitarian health and educational activities).
These suspected terrorists were trained by
Jemaah Islamiah (JI) in bomb-making in Central Mindanao. JI is an
Indonesia-based terrorist group linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda
network.
Combined government troop units also raided a
suspected hideout of rogue Moro rebels hiding in a lakeshore town at
the outskirts of Metro Manila. The combined police-military
detachment killed two militants and captured six others.
The enforcement on July 15 of the controversial
Human Security Act of 2007 has somehow given the government a new
weapon to combat terrorism. But it is a weak one, according to
police and the military. What they clamor for is the revival of the
Marcos martial-law regime’s antisubversion law, which has been
scratched out of the statute books.
The Human Security Act has drawn sharp
criticisms from several sectors, including human-rights advocates
and left-wing militant groups and even from the law-enforcement
sector.
Government security officials, however, see
provisions of the law that work against the campaign against
terrorism. One of these is the huge fine it imposes on security
forces for wrongfully detaining suspected terrorists.
Sustained military operations in Sulu and
Basilan provinces have resulted in the killing of several top
terrorist leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, some
leaders of whom carry huge bounties on their heads.
Among the top terror suspects killed by
government troops were Jainal Antel Sali Jr., alias Abu Solaiman,
who had a P50-million bounty on his head, and Jundam Jumlalul, alias
Black Killer, who had a P2-million bounty.
With military operations against Islamic
militants in full swing for the past several months, the Abu Sayyaf
has been on the run and virtually crippled, the Armed Forces of the
Philippines claims.
The extremist group, which is on the US State
Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, can now
mount only small-scale attacks aimed to divert soldiers from
military operations.
The death of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy
Janjanlani in September 2006 and the group’s spokesman and its
chief operation officer last January 16 have prevented the group
from launching major attacks against government forces.
Most of the perpetrators of 2005 and 2006 Abu
Sayyaf attacks have been killed, captured or arrested. Some of them
are now serving jail sentences.
But this year the Armed Forces lost more than 50
troops, 10 of whom were beheaded by the extremist group last July in
Basilan province in the country’s southern Mindanao region.
The military chief, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr.,
is optimistic that with the military success and cooperation of
neighboring countries, the threat of terrorism in the Association of
Southeast Nations, of which the Philippines is a member, would be
contained.
The conviction early this month of 14 Abu Sayyaf
members behind the infamous abduction of local and foreign tourists
from the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan in May 2001 is a clear
indication that the government is winning at all fronts, government
military spokesmen say.
The Philippine National Police spokesman, Chief
Supt. Samuel Pagdilao, said the passage of the Human Security Act,
the conviction of Abu Sayyaf leaders and members and lack of major
attacks show that the government is winning the war and in firm
control.
“The passage of the Human Security Act of 2007
is a milestone in the legal front. It delineates terrorism as a
crime. We have a law that criminalizes terrorism,” Pagdilao added.
He said no major terrorist attacks, particularly
in Metro Manila, have been reported in the past two years.
“The [Abu Sayyaf] is on the run, [it has] no
clear direction following the neutralization of its leaders,”
Pagdilao said. “We can also see that the frequency and gravity of
terror activities carried out have been diminishing.”
Of the rebellion of the Communist Party of the
Philippines and its New People’s Army, Esperon said last December
11 that the military is way ahead in meeting its target of
diminishing the strength of the NPA.
He added that the military had moved so fast
that it would succeed in reducing NPA troop strength a year ahead of
the deadline imposed on the military by President Gloria Arroyo.
Esperon told journalists attending the Manila
Overseas Press Club “General’s Night” that from 7,400
combatants in 2006, now in 2007 there are only 6,061 NPA rebels.
“This number renders them inconsequential and
they definitely cannot topple the government or have the leverage to
extract demands at the negotiating table,” he said.
Esperon added that the number of NPA guerrilla
fronts has been reduced impressively. From 2001 to 2005, there were
105 NPA guerrilla fronts. “In 2006, we reduced it by five. Now we
will be reducing it by 15.”
So, according to the Armed Forces chief, by end
2007 or early 2008, there will only be 85 NPA guerrilla fronts, or
areas where the communist rebels hold sway over mostly farmer
residents.
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