Thursday morning, the Philippines woke up to news about a terror attack in London, where at least five people were reported dead, including the attacker, and around 40 injured, after a man mowed down pedestrians along the Westminster Bridge with a sport utility vehicle and stabbed a police officer – all just outside Parliament.
Police enacted an immediate counterterrorism investigation, Parliament was on lockdown, and UK Prime Minister Theresa May was evacuated from the premises following reports of gunfire in the area.
The incident fell on the one year anniversary of the deadly terror attack in Brussels, Belgium, where three coordinated suicide bombings took place, two at Brussels Airport and one at Maalbeek metro station, which killed 35 and wounded over 300.
In both cases, links to ISIS were found amongst the perpetrators. According to CNN: “Mark Rowley, Britain’s most senior counterterror police officer, told reporters late Wednesday that authorities believe they know the attacker’s identity but are not releasing it, and are operating on the assumption the incident was ‘Islamist-related terrorism.’”
In her address to the public, May said, “The location of this attack was no accident; the terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions, and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy, and freedom of speech.”
The Philippines is no stranger to the scourge or radical Islamic terrorism.
Just last month, German national Jurgen Gustav Kantner was beheaded by members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) – the latest in a string of lethal hostage situations that have been going on for decades.
Presidential advisor Jesus Dureza called the killing “barbaric.”
In a report by The New York Post, “[President Rodrigo Duterte] has ordered troops to destroy the Abu Sayyaf extremists, saying their ransom kidnappings were embarrassing and were creating a security alarm in the waters bordering the south, Malaysia and Indonesia.”
During the previous administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III, he proposed the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which eventually failed.
As written in a column penned last year, during the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, as much as Aquino’s Liberal Party (LP) would argue BBL did not make the region an independent state, it certainly would have put it on the road to one. It’s an entirely different beast since (as noted in Article V of House Bill 5811) the “autonomous region” would have their own auditing system, or taxation; coast guard; customs and tariff, only an independent state would require that; its own justice system, which the bill explains would allow the practice of Sharia Law; and public order and safety, essentially, law enforcement.
Given the state of the region that kind of sovereignty would likely see the number of Kantner cases increase.
Ask any member of the LP today and their only concern is undermining the president’s agenda. According to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael Sueno, who was present at the ongoing Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) meeting at the SMX Convention Center in Bacolod City, he noted, “The calls for Duterte’s impeachment, the EU’s demand to release De Lima, the removal of chairmanships for congressmen who voted against death penalty, and Robredo’s video message to the United Nations are all related – calling them all consequences of attempts to undermine the current administration.
In all reality, if there was a desire for unity in government, national security should be one that brings together the shared desire for a peaceful nation.
Earlier this year, to the people the prior administration was trying to coddle, Duterte offered a firm stance, saying, if rebels in the south are harboring terrorists, they can “forget about peace.”
“I am asking the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) and MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) to not provide sanctuary for these terrorists inside their camps because, we will be forced to go after them in your territory,” he stated.
The president has also sought the assistance from foreign countries on the matter, most recently, with the visit of Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop earlier this month. The Australian government pledged A$40 million (around P1.5 billion) towards the peace process.
While the primary issues in local news focus on political barbs being thrown around – a president that is too tough, a vice president of questionable stature, a congress going in all directions on policy – however, the president has been clear when it comes to the all-important issue of national security.
What the country has seen in the previous administration (and likely the same sentiment carried by allies still in office) is a belief that the nation must kowtow to extremists in order to “attain peace” – that position is, likely, what fuels their side’s belief that the current president is an extremist, himself, by not espousing policies that appear sympathetic to radical Islamic terrorists.
With the many divisions in the country, the president’s firm stance on stamping out domestic terrorism should be one that would unify the nation. For some elected officials, they still value their political party over their country./WDJ