July 20, 2003

The Philippine STAR, Opinion Page

Worldwide Rage 

By Babe Romualdez

The other day, my driver, who hardly says anything, came up to me and said, “Sir, wala na po talagang pag-asa ang Pilipinas. Pati terrorista nakakawala na!”  I stared down at the newspaper he was holding and there, splattered on the headlines, was the escape of Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, a high-ranking official and key bomber of the Jemmah Islamayah group. How ironic that the escape happened right after the indictment of Al-Ghozi’s fellow JI members who were guilty of the Rizal Day bombings – Hambali (Asia’s most wanted terrorist) and Faiz Abubakar Bafana – where 22 people were killed in the country’s worst terrorist attack. According to reports, Al-Ghozi escaped with two members of the Abu Sayyaf – Abdulmukim Ong Edris and Omar Opik Lasal. What is going on? Are we making a career out of being the dumping ground of global outrage? For heaven’s sake, these are terrorists – wholesale murderers -- not petty thieves or snatchers that the PNP is used to dealing with. The government has no idea of the kind of repercussions this would produce both locally and globally. Even the masa is angered by this incident because for the most part, it’s the civilians who are really the target of these terrorists. This has been the third escape incident of terrorists for two years now. At this point, I’m not even sure which is more disturbing if not altogether wicked – that a terrorist is once more roaming the streets and ready to launch fresh attacks on civilians, or that we just showed to the world how corrupt some of our police agencies could be. Because in both cases, we’re all just as good as dead.

What the government has worked on for this past few months to achieve global recognition and respect with regard to the fight against terrorism has suddenly been turned to nothing because one or a few got really greedy, allegedly took a bribe, and let loose a very dangerous terrorist. Let’s not be naïve. Al-Ghozi, who is known to have access to a lot of cash, would not have been able to get out of his cell if not for the “help” of someone inside who was all too willing to take it. If you remember, the country was even gunning for leadership position in the region against transnational terrorism. Countries in both Asia and Europe were literally lining up to lend the Philippines some assistance following the declaration of the United States that the country has become a non-NATO ally. Now, there is talk that these same countries will start lining up to give their advisories on how unsafe the country is, and how untrustworthy our police agencies are. The US State Department, in fact, just rang the “High Terrorist Alert” on the Philippines again, forcing other countries like Australia, Britain, Israel to closely monitor the event. This will not only affect our diplomatic clout (that’s to assume that we do have some), but also the country’s investment, economics and tourism potential which was slowly picking up before all this happened. 

Aside from the possibility of terrorist attacks that could be launched anytime soon by Al-Ghozi himself, the more disturbing part of this is that the AFP might be dragged into the controversy, and eventually tagged as corrupt just like our law enforcement agencies. Because of this, further financial assistance and other military aid packages might be delayed if not altogether brushed off by the Pentagon and the US Congress. The United States has always been very particular about where their aid packages actually go, and getting the money into the wrong hands could spell disaster to RP-US relations, and of course, security in the region. Instead of winning the battle against terrorism, without the proper equipment and firepower, this would put more of our soldiers in mortal danger because of a few who got really greedy.

What I have been trying to say all along is this: the escape of Al-Ghozi is not a simple issue of escaping from prison. It will have repercussions that we could not even begin to fully measure. The Philippines will again be in high-security alert, and we know what this means. The economy will begin to nosedive because of foreign advisories. Investors and tourist will again turn their heads the other way. Foreign assistance will come in trickles due to the issue of corruption that will be pinned on both the police and the military agencies. Loss of morale will be the result, breeding more criminality if not double-dealings from within. Worse, as long as Al-Ghozi is alive and out of prison, the death toll in the name of terrorism will only grow. Since the Abu Sayyaf destroyed the small town of Ipil almost a decade ago, and started a kidnapping rampage, much of this country hasn’t had a good night’s sleep. My question is: how much of this pressure and tension could we actually endure?

To top it all, we have an international community of nations looking down at us with angry faces because we let loose a wholesale murderer. Initial investigations by an independent interpol body said that a lot of money changed hands in the escape of Al-Ghozi. One thing is clear in this whole incident: someone is responsible for this escape, and whoever it is, he must be made to pay for it dearly, to be hanged by his you-know-what if need be. 

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Email: babeseyeview@hotmail.com

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