NSA: RP can’t police sea lanes between Mindanao, Indonesia

DAVAO CITY — National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales admitted here over the weekend that the government is helpless in securing the vast sea lanes between Mindanao and Indonesia, which are part of the so-called southern backdoor that is a favorite route of smugglers, pirates, and members of the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

People on board small boats take less than three hours to travel from the nearest Indonesian island of Sangihue Talaud to the town of Jose Abad Santos in Davao del Sur.

Gonzales said Indonesian and Filipino boats make more than 26,000 trips each year plying the waters between the islands in East Indonesia and the long coastline of Mindanao.

"We cannot watch and check every boat that travels between Indonesia and Mindanao. Over 26,000 trips are made by these boats and it is impossible to monitor each of them given the government’s meager resources," said Gonzales, who arrived here for a series of meetings with security officials following the recent spate of bombings in Central Mindanao.

"How do you expect government to tightly watch its territorial waters when we lack the necessary equipment and vessels to patrol our borders with Indonesia?" he asked.

The Philippine Navy and Coast Guard do not have enough patrol craft to secure the country’s territorial waters in spite of the existing cooperation between the Philippines and Indonesia to conduct joint patrol operations.

Gonzales said the main operations of the al-Qaeda-linked JI terrorists are still based in Indonesia while Mindanao is being used by the group as a training ground and a base for recruiting new members.

He explained that despite the government’s lacks of modern equipment in the fight against terrorism, security units have built up a network of human intelligence to gather information against suspected terrorists.

"Our intelligence network is good, that is why the terrorists find it hard to move around because they know their movements would be monitored," he said, adding that the community’s vigilance has also helped in strengthening intelligence operations.

Suspected JI members reportedly used to take refuge in small Indonesian communities in Southern Mindanao before joining their contacts in the other parts of the island.

He assured the people that the government has been strengthening the border security cooperation plan with Indonesia to effectively monitor the movement of people and goods in the vast sea lanes separating the two countries.

This developed, as Gonzales assured the people that the impasse in the peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is only temporary and the negotiations will soon resume.

"As in any negotiation, there is always that point where there is a hardening of stance before a final peace agreement is signed. It is like a storm before the calm," Gonzales said.

He expressed confidence that both the government and MILF panels would resume the stalled peace talks.

Gonzales cited the peace talks with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) when the negotiations bogged down several times before the final peace accord was signed on Sept. 2, 1996.

Chief government negotiator Silvestre Afable earlier said a new "improved" proposal shall be submitted to the MILF by the end of the month in a bid to resolve the contentious issue over ancestral domain.

Afable said the government is now working on a new draft that would hopefully be acceptable by the MILF.

Former congressman Michael Mastura, a member of the MILF negotiating panel, likewise said it is now up to government to do what it can for the peace talks to resume.

"The ball is now in government’s hands. We are just waiting. But we cannot wait forever. The MILF also has its options," Mastura said.

Afable also told The STAR that the government has been using a Global Positioning System to map out and determine the areas included in the ancestral domain the MILF is claiming.

"We have the exact locations and other details with the mapping system that also helped us in the negotiations," Afable added.

He said the same mapping system has been used by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Agrarian Reform.