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Philippine President Wants Tougher Security Laws After Bomb Explosions
By
Benedict Dimapindan
February 20, 2005
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called for the
passage of a pending anti-terrorism bill and a national identification
system after a series of bomb explosions ripped through three
cities within a one-hour span on Feb. 14, leaving at least 12
dead and 150 injured.
On Feb.17, Macapagal-Arroyo said in a statement that she sought
to toughen the country’s internal security laws “to
add teeth to the fight against terror” and will leave it
to Congress to determine the details of the new anti-terrorism
measure.
“We must match the resolve of other nations on this score,
as terrorists take advantage of loopholes in the legal system
that allow them anonymity,” the president said.
Macapagal-Arroyo added that the Philippines “must close
the gap in lawful vigilance even as we maximize all available
legal and operational measures to keep [terrorists] at bay…”
The Muslim separatist group Abu Sayyaf, which the U.S. State
Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization, claimed
responsibility for the attacks.
The blasts – which tore through Makati, a city in Metro
Manila, and the southern cities of Davao and General Santos – were
an apparent retaliation for the military offensive in Mindanao,
the predominantly Islamic southern region of the archipelago.
The days-long clashes between Muslim extremist rebels and Philippine
soldiers have killed dozens and forced tens of thousands of civilians
to flee their provincial homes.
“We will find more ways and means to inflict more harm
to your people’s lives and properties, and we will not
stop unless we get justice for the countless Muslim lives and
properties that you people have destroyed,” Abu Sayyaf
leader Abu Solaiman told the Philippine radio station DZBB shortly
before the Manila bombing.
President Macapagal-Arroyo denounced the attacks as “despicable
acts,” according to a press release issued the day after
the explosions.
“The evil of terrorism has only one aim, it is to rule
with absolute power and absolute force,” Macapagal-Arroyo
said in the statement. “The desperation of the enemy cannot
be underestimated…More than ever, we must not pull back
but move forward to wipe out the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf.”
However, Macapagal-Arroyo, in the statement, was quick to point
out that any military action taken in the south is not religiously
motivated.
“The government shall focus it operations against terrorist
cells and there should be no fear of a witch hunt. This is not
a fight against Islam,” the president said. “We are
dealing with renegades…”
But not everyone agrees that the heroes and the villains in
this crisis are so easily distinguishable.
Jay L. Gonzalez, an associate professor and director of the
Maria Elena Yuchengco Philippine Studies program at the University
of San Francisco, said the bombings elicit mixed reactions from
all Filipinos. “It depends on who’s looking at it,” he
said.
“If you’re in the north, you see their acts as terrorism,
threatening the stability of the country,” Gonzalez said. “And
for national governmental leaders, it will be labeled as an act
of terrorism – because if it’s terrorism, the Philippines
is entitled to military aid from the United States.”
Conversely, those in the south would see it from a polar-opposite
perspective, according to Gonzalez.
“If you ask the people themselves in Mindanao, they’ll
say it’s part of the continuing struggle for an independent,
autonomous region,” he said. “They view it as a reaction
to the excessive militarization of Mindanao and in response to
the foreign encroachment of their land…they’re not
even comfortable being called ‘Filipinos’.”
Gonzalez also said that these terrorist attacks will have lasting
financial and military implications because they’ll “legitimize
any assistance from the U.S. and institutionalize any relationship
with the U.S. hereafter.”
“An unstable Philippines is bad for the region, which
is bad for American business, and that’s the storyline
that will reach Washington,” he said.
And for Filipino Americans, Gonzalez added that it’s very
disturbing and disheartening to hear how these acts of violence
are being carried out in their homeland.
“For Filipino Americans, they left because of the socioeconomic
and political instability there,” he said. “They
left for reasons like constant bombings and nationalist movements.
“These attacks cast the Philippines – the country
they came from – in a bad light. They don’t like
what happens there.”
Contact Benedict Dimapindan at bend1@stanford.edu
