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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: A Muslim human
rights organization on Friday assailed Philippine authorities for
using so-called terrorist hysteria every time there are anti-Arroyo
street protests.
The Suara Bangsamoro, an umbrella
organization of human rights and civil society groups, said the
Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines
have been making pronouncements about impending attacks by the local
Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiah, an Indonesian terror group tied
to a string of bombings in Jakarta and Manila.
Police chief Avelino Razon on
Friday said they arrested a suspected foreign terrorist believed
plotting terror attacks in Manila. Razon made the announcement the
same day a huge anti-Arroyo protest was scheduled in Makati.
“We have arrested a foreigner
suspected of plotting terror attacks, including an assassination on
the president,” Razon said.
The Philippine military this week
also said that the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiah and the communist New
People’s Army rebels are plotting to bomb civilian targets in
Manila. The military also made a similar warning last week a few
days before anti-Arroyo protesters held a huge rally in Manila.
“We cannot anymore stomach the
use of the police and military the ‘terrorist hysteria’ in a bid
to make Arroyo look like a target of terrorist killing in the midst
of a mammoth interfaith rally calling for her resignation,” Amirah
Lidasan, national president of the Suara Bangsamoro, said.
The Inter-religious Solidarity
Movement for Peace in Mindanao has joined calls for truth and clean,
corruption-free society. The group underscored in a statement the
need “to get to the bottom of these anomalies and prosecute those
who are found liable—regardless of their high or powerful
positions, including the President of the country.”
Also, the Salinlahi Alliance for
Children’s Concerns has criticized Arroyo and joined calls for her
to step down.
“The anomalies and scandals on
the secret deals of the Arroyo government emit unbearable stench, no
matter how the government tries to cover it up. The whole nation can
smell the horrible stench and even the children can smell it too,”
Alphonse Rivera, the group’s spokesman, said.
“We have witnessed how the
government deprived our children of basic services while fattening
their own pockets. Now is the time to speak out and defend our
children’s future. We want to put across the message that,
whichever way, Mrs. Arroyo has to go now. She has never
considered the children’s interests in her seven years in power
and we have lost trust that she will do so in the next two years.
We can no longer bear the disgusting stench of her government,”
Rivera said.
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