Baguio mayor calls for profiling vs terrorist threats

Mayor says foreigners, Muslims and students should be screened

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Baguio City will profile its 300,000 residents in an attempt to keep radicalism and terrorism out of the country's summer capital.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan is rallying officials in all 128 barangays to cooperate in the local government's move to guard against internal threats.

Domogan underscored the importance of profiling foreigners, Muslims and even transient students in the barangays for the local government to establish a database of people in the city.

Profiling, which has been criticized for being discriminatory against certain races, nationalities and ethnicities, has raised question on ethics and civil liberties since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

According to a 2009 Scientific American article citing new research on the ethics and effectiveness of profiling, "it is no more effective to profile strongly—that is, subject individuals to increased scrutiny in proportion to their presumed likelihood of malfeasance—than it is to randomly flag individuals in the general population when it comes to rooting out terrorism."

Domogan's move comes as a Department of Justice petition to declare more than 600 people—including rights defenders and activists—as terrorists with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army is pending in a Manila court. 

"We have to make sure that we are prepared for whatever untoward incidents that will happen in the future, especially when it concerns the city’s peace and order situation. We have to be one step ahead of those who want to ruin the image of the city from the forces that simply want to create trouble and disturb the city’s peace and order situation," the city mayor stressed.

Domogan himself believes sympathizers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are now in the different parts of the country and are trying to look for local supporters. 

Residents in the city's barangays must be vigilant, especially when there are new people who want to live among them, he explained.

Earlier, Senior Superintendent Ramir Saculles, Baguio City police director, hinted that they have asked hotels and inns to help monitor tourists and visitors who might have plans to cause trouble in the city.

Domogan claimed that one of the major problems of every local government is radicalism and terrorism, which has been lurking in some key cities in the country. He said that is why local governments are forced to strengthen their anti-criminality, anti-terrorism and peacekeeping initiatives.