SOUNDING BOARD is an outlet for opinions on good and crazy things going on at home (wherever I may be). All are welcome. You are not expected to bring anything except your common sense & sense of humor.
'If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.'
-Robert X. Cringely (from geek wisdom)
SOUNDING BOARD
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
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Current counter-terrorism "policy" of the Philippines
The United States Code, Title 22, Section 265f (d) defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetuated against noncombatant targets by substantial groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience”. The US Department of State lists the Abu Sayyaf Group and Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) as foreign terrorist organizations.
Malacañang, however, does not base its counter-terrorism operations on the US list. This is evident on how Malacañang treats Abu Sayyaf differently with the government’s two primary insurgent groups – the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The Abu Sayyaf is the only target of Malacañang’s counter-terrorism strategies. While CPP-NPA is also in White House’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, Malacañang seems to be treating the group as a local communist movement, and hence, does not totally close its doors on CPP-NPA with respect to a possible peace agreement. The peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA were discontinued in June 2002 due to the group’s assassination of two members of the House of Representatives. Despite this, Malacañang is still conducting back-channel negotiations with the rebels. Even with the recent move of Malacañang to request the European Union to brand the NPA as a terrorist organization, still, the objective is to bring the insurgents back to the negotiating table.
Just like the CPP/NPA, Malacañang intends to achieve peace with the MILF through dialogue, negotiations, redressing grievances and provision of resources to poor Muslim communities. The government’s policy also stresses that sovereignty and territorial integrity will never be compromised (MTPDP 2001). This means that a separate “Islamic state” is out of the question. MILF demands a separate territory where Koran will be followed and not a “man-made constitution” (Gloria, G. and Vitug, M., 2000. Under the Crescent Moon). Despite this, Malacañang’s current policy for MILF is summed up in Ms. Arroyo’s instruction to “keep the communication lines open”. This treatment is not accorded to Abu Sayyaf. In fact, even though Malacañang does not have an anti-terrorism policy, it has a clear policy with respect to the Abu Sayyaf Group: it targets to “annihilate Abu Sayyaf by 2003” (NEDA 2001).
posted by Allan at 10:58 AM (GMT+8)
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