Complexity of antiterrorism drive cited 

By Rommer Balaba
Reporter

THE issue of global terrorism has complicated the Philippines’ own concerns on terrorism, particularly on how to deal with issues related to the Muslim separatist movement.
           
“It is not just in this country but even in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, in my view it has complicated our problem of Muslim secessionism. It is a challenge, but the solution is not just in the peace talks … it has to do with a complementation of policy measures,” Carolina Hernandez, founding president of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS), said on Friday.
           
ISDS is spearheading the fifth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) People’s Assembly from December 8 to 10, a parallel activity to the 10-nation conference to be held in Cebu, later this month.
           
“The thing is that probably in a regional perspective of terrorism … it should not just be a military approach [since] there is the issue of the hyperpower of the US [as well as] addressing the root causes of all these alienation, human-security issue.
           
“Even the issue of human development is linked to terrorism. There is really no consensus within the region except to say it should not just focus on the military [solution],” Noel Morada, ISDS executive director added.
           
The government is confronted by the problem of global terrorism reaching local soil, Hernandez said, in such a way that it has to pursue the stalled peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and yet must implement counterterrorism measures that could target MILF factions.
           
“The question is MILF has many factions, some of them control camps where JI [Jema’ah Islamiyah] elements are allowed to come in and train and undertake measures to promote the terrorist agenda. How do we as a country respond to this when we are involved in this peace talks,” she commented.
           
“What is the military to do when there are validated reports [that] there is active recruitment being done by some MILF factions while a ceasefire agreement is in effect? So you need to have a more coherent policy where all of these things are taken into account, but unfortunately that is missing not just in the counterterrorism but counterinsurgency as a whole,” Hernandez added.
           
Some Filipinos’ intolerability toward the Muslim religion further complicates the issue of terrorism, Morada explained.
           
“These problems are deeply rooted … we may be chipping away on some of the causes but not the entire block, it will take time to solve it,” he added.
           
Hernandez, meanwhile, was more straightforward: “We in Metro Manila have reduced it to a religious problem, which I have resisted. I do not think it is purely a religious problem, it is a problem of equality of access.”
           
“The solution is to create more understanding about each other’s religions, to be more tolerant, to be secular rather than sectarian in your approach. It is not really the differences in the religion … but how people who adhere to different religions are treated in a political, social and economic context,” she said.