The Anti-Terror Bill of 2020 has yet to be passed but LGUs continue to hail it has a law which will provide for everything. Even protecting the economy.
(Many are aware that the threats of terrorism can affect the progress of our economy in the form of loss of tourists, foreign investors, among others. If we want a prosperous country, it is time to have an effective shield against criminality, terrorism, drugs, and corruption),” part of the manifesto said.
The council also encouraged everyone to “embrace and support" the bill for the good of the Filipinos and the generations to come.
The MPOC said that the bill will promote the aspired peace for the Filipinos and the society.
What they are saying is that if terrorism was completely wiped out everyone would be safer, more tourists would come visit, more foreigners would invest, and the economy would be booming. No kidding! There's no guarantee this bill will do all that. Listen to what President Arroyo said at the signing of the Human Security Act of 2007:
Today we raise the bar on our campaign against terrorists who kill, bomb and maim to enforce an ideology of evil.
We have the legal muscle to help end the paralysis of fear, empowered with a law that identifies terrorism and penalizes it, a law that preserves and protects freedom.
Crime is down in the nation because we have made investments to put more police on the street. Our military must continue on its path to reform, becoming even more professional every day at the same time they fight to eliminate the armed terrorist threats to the nation from religious extremists or communist terrorists. Whatever ideology is being pursued that undermines our stability must be defeated.
If you are armed and kill innocent civilians, you will be tracked down and prosecuted. If you are a communist terrorist, we will stop you. If you are a religious terrorist, we will stop you. If you are a rogue element of your own police or military, we will stop you.
Economic and social development is still the best guarantee of achieving human security. Only equitable and sustainable growth can free us from want and fear. Poverty, though not the cause, abets terrorism.
Talk is cheap. It is action that counts. I ask the public to give the Human Security Act a chance.
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2007/07/20/speech-of-president-arroyo-at-the-launching-of-the-human-security-act-of-2007/
This speech was given on July 20th, 2007 almost 13 years ago. What has changed? Nothing! A decade after her speech the Marawi siege happened. Why? It wasn't because of the law. It was because the government ignored intelligence they had about the forthcoming attack! It is not "the law" which identifies terrorism and penalizes it nor is it "the law" which preserves and protects freedom. It is a competent military which does that. Arroyo was right. Talk is cheap. It is action that counts. The AFP and the PNP failed to act on the emerging threat of ISIS between 2014 and 2017.
In fact they ignored it! Listen to Arroyo again:
"Our military must continue on its path to reform, becoming even more professional every day..."
The military has been stuck in a reform trip since the 90's. Modernization they call it. Obtaining modern weapons and better training. The AFP is STILL modernizing. For nigh on 30 years the Philippines has been attempting to purchase the weapons it needs. Remember when the AFP plated their vehicles with wood during the Marawi siege to stop the RPG's ISIS was firing at them?
Remember when DND Secretary Lorenzana admitted that the AFP had to relearn urban warfare combat because they stopped such training exercises?
"It's a skill we used to have but we lost along the way because we didn't use it. We keep training our people in what we call the military operations in urban terrain, MOUT. But we seldom use it, we never use it, so we stopped teaching our people at the Marawi camp. So now we have to reacquire that skill plus the necessary equipment that goes with it.
Neither the lack of weapons nor the lack of skills has stopped their leaders from calling the AFP world class.
(Even if our equipment has yet to arrive, Gen. Año said we have already won the battle. That is the spirit being demonstrated by our artillerymen)," Army commander, Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, said in his speech during the 13th anniversary of the Army Artillery Regiment (AAR) in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.
Gapay said that while it has yet to get more modern equipment, the AAR has been effective in carrying out its mandate and assisting the government in ongoing efforts to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Meanwhile, he urged all AAR personnel to continue honing their skills and maintain their professionalism.
Basically
he is saying
the AFP has heart and that is what matters. What a crock! Wars are not won with heart. They
are won with equipment and training.
What a joke. Just as unfunny a joke as Sara Duterte talking about cultivating a "culture of security."
"We call on everyone to continue to be vigilant and do their part in establishing and nurturing a Culture of Security here in our city and our country."
You know what would cultivate a culture of security is taking intel seriously. Taking the threat of ISIS seriously. Not calling the NPA irrelevant. That AFP has done all of that. Their laxity has made the Philippines unsafe. Seven years ago the AFP declared Antique insurgent free and the NPA insignificant.
“The CNN [CPP-NPA-NDF] here in Antique is already insignificant,” Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta, Third Infantry Division commander, said after he and Gov. Exequiel Javier of Antique signed a joint declaration proclaiming Antique as “manageable conflict-affected and development-ready.”
“The joint declaration of Antique as manageable conflict-affected and development-ready means that the province is an insurgency-free province and at this time, we were able to overcome the so called fear of communist affectation. We are now moving out of that and ready to accept investment,” he added.
Now the AFP says there is massive recruitment in Antique!
“We have monitored massive recruitment, especially of minors, in Antique province,” Batara said, adding that this is intended to reclaim some areas in the province that were declared as insurgent-free in 2015.
“Massive recruitment is particularly happening in the municipalities of Sibalom, San Remigio and Hamtic,” he said, adding that CNTs’ extortion activities are also being done simultaneously to beef up their logistical strength.
They declared the province insurgent free in 2015? Funny cause the first article is from 2013. Is that a typo or did the NPA flare up in the region after 2013? In any case they declared parts of both Northern and Eastern Samar insurgent free in 2013 and 2015.
In the past two years, the Philippine Army has declared 42 towns in Eastern Visayas as insurgency-free, raising military’s confidence that the region will attain the rebel-free status by next year.
In a report to the Regional Development Council, Lt. Col. Ferdinand Bajarin, assistant chief of staff for intelligence of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, said that of the 42 areas, nine are in Northern Samar, four in Samar, four in Eastern Samar and 25 in Leyte.
“This is in line with our effort to declare Samar, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar and Leyte as insurgency-free by 2016,” Bajarin said.
Since October 2013, declared as insurgent-free are the towns of Allen, Biri, Capul, San Antonio, San Vicente, Rosario, Lavezares, San Jose, and San Roque in Northern Samar; Alamagro, Tagapul-an, Sto. Nino, and Daram in Samar; Guiuan, Mercedes, Lawaan, and Salcedo in Eastern Samar.
In Leyte, listed as rebel-free are Palompon, Bato, Matalom, Inopacan, Tabon-tabon, Dulag, Julita, Babatngon, Tabango, Abuyog, Mahaplag, Hindang, Barugo, San Miguel, Leyte, Pastrana, Hilongos, Tolosa, Mayorga, Matag-ob, Merida, Dagami, Calubian, Sta. Fe, and Alangalang.
These areas have been jointly declared as free from threats of New People’s Army by local government units and Army battalions in the region.
Well Samar was not insurgency free by 2016 as the AFP continues to fight the NPA in the region.
The New People’s Army (NPA) continues to weaken following intensified military operations this year, the Philippine Army operating in some parts of rebel-infested Northern Samar province said on Friday.
Lt. Col. Juan Gullem, commander of the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion (IB), said a rebel lair overran by government troops and seizure of firearms in Palapag, Northern Samar will paralyze the activities of the communist terrorist group.
Seized after the clash were two homemade shotguns, empty shells, mobile phone, flash drive, transistor radio, gasoline, four civilian bags, food supply, flashlights with batteries, assorted medicines, school identification cards, and subversive documents.
The discovery of school IDs proves that NPAs have been recruiting students to join in the armed struggle, Gullem said.
“The lair’s discovery will weaken the organization since they’re driven away from their comfort zone. The overwhelming support of the local populace to the government makes the NPA vulnerable. It will take time for them to establish another haven unless they surrender,” Gullem said in a phone interview.
Northern Samar is considered to be the NPA’s stronghold in Eastern Visayas due to poor road network, thick forest, high poverty incidence, and low level of education in upland communities.
Maybe the AFP will meet
their new target date of of an insurgency free Samar by 2022. But
probably not. Let's not be duplicitous here. There are good numbers from this month and other months too as NPA members and supporters continue to surrender.
The Communist Terrorists Group in Northern Samar further weakens with the mass surrender of 71 CTG members and supporters to the 43rd Infantry Battalion on June 15 in Northern Samar.
Reports coming from the 43rd IB stated that the surrenderees included 45 Yunit Militia, 13 Batahang Organisasyon sa Partido (BOP) and 13 Communist Terrorist Group supporters, at Barangay E Durian, Bobon, Northern Samar.
Intensified operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has resulted in the voluntary surrender of 313 New People's Army (NPA) members and supporters from June 6 to 12.
High value targets continue
to be neutralized
by the AFP.
A notorious Communist NPA Terrorist (CNT) who was responsible in various extortion activities targeting the government infrastructure projects and business establishments in the pacific towns of Northern Samar, and his aide, were neutralized by the combined elements of Team Peacemaker and the Northern Samar Police Mobile Force Company while conducting an inter-agency law enforcement operation on Saturday, June 20, at vicinity of Brgy. Bagacay, Palapag, Northern Samar.
An alleged bomb expert of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) involved in the 2007 Batasan bombing was arrested in an intelligence-driven law enforcement operation in this southern port city, a police official said Friday.
Lt. Col. Roland Barraquio, Zamboanga City Mobile Force Company commander, identified the arrested individual as Kahar Indama, cousin of Basilan-based ASG leader Furuji Indama.
Indama was involved in the November 13, 2007 bombing that killed then Basilan Congressman Wahab Akbar and injured seven others, two of whom are legislators, at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City, he said.
He said the arrested ASG "bomb expert" was also involved in the ambush of government troops sometime in 2007 that resulted in the death of seven militiamen and one member of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) and injured three soldiers and a militiaman.
But if gains cannot be sustained then it's all for nothing. The government seems to not understand that.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday urged the officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to ensure that there will be zero abuses of any provision in the proposed anti-terrorism measure once it is enacted into law.
“It is a reminder to the Executive Department, the Secretaries, who will form the Task Force Committee, it is a reminder to the Chief-of-Staff, it is a reminder to the Senate and Congress, and it is a reminder to the Chief PNP that the law will be judged not by all its successes, but by one abuse,” he said.
“Maybe not now, maybe not next week, maybe not in one year, we may prove that the critics [are] wrong,” he said.
The problem with the new anti-terror bill is not that abuses may happen but that NOTHING will happen. That everything will remain the same. That the insurgency will continue to plod along just as it has for the past 50 years because of the incompetence of the AFP and the PNP. The Philippines does not need a new anti-terrorism law. It needs an effective military who can defeat these threats. Heart is not enough.
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