So the 'bombers' were Moro rebels, after all: But wait

Let's not relax just because 26 Muslims pinpointed as being members of the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were arrested Saturday for the "bombings" in SM Megamall and the Glorietta. There may be more urban terrorists lurking out there, dispatched by the Moro rebel command -- and, besides, we still haven't nabbed any "bomb-expert" from that other gang, the Abu Sayyaf.

Of course, I'm glad that, as predicted in this corner, a number of "identified" suspects have been rounded up by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF). The possibility remains that, out of such a large number collared, some of those pulled in could be "innocent," while other terrorists might have gotten away. In short, the roundup still isn't complete. My advice is to stay vigilant.

This writer was in Cuba for a few months following the failure of the April 17, 1961 American-sponsored "invasion" mounted by Cuban exiles who stormed ashore at Playa Giron in the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), but were shot down or captured. Havana and the entire island, long after the event, stayed on "red alert" (which is a pun, really, since the Fidel Castro government was "Red"). Most of the Cubans I met, however, in their moments of private candor, declared they didn't believe in Marxism or Communism, since they didn't understand those "isms", but they were nonetheless exhorted night and day to be vigilant against Norteamericano and Yanqui infiltrators, spies, and "terrorists."

One of the slogans, I recall, on every wall was: "Tus Ojos son un Arma de la Revolucion!" (Your eyes are a weapon of the revolution!)

In fact, Castro's "secret police," trained by experts imported from Czechoslovakia, was so over-efficient that 300,000 "suspects" were picked up.

On the other hand, "Your eyes are a weapon" is a slogan which can be useful to us in spotting any future bombing attempts. One terrorist cell may have been busted by General Panfilo Lacson's PAOCTF and military intelligence, but, this doesn't mean that we're now entirely safe in Metro Manila. Lacson himself warned yesterday: "The bomb threat will be lessened, but we are not guaranteeing anything."

Anyway, it's a victory we can savor.

Incidentally, if you'll scan the newspaper reports today, you'll read that PNP chief Director-General Lacson "apologized" to the journalists for having misled them by saying, earlier, that a "rightist" political group was suspected of having detonated the two mall bombings. In short, he admitted he deliberately lied in order to lull the Moro insurgents into complacency and conceal ongoing operations.

If that was the case, Ping, you and Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado ought to get your act together. While Lacson was pretending to suspect rightist plotters, Mercado kept on saying -- correctly as it turned out -- that he believed it was the MILF. Lacson wryly conceded that Mercado was "too honest" since he didn't have intelligence training. Sus, what an explanation! True, Orly doesn't have any intelligence training, but he's a politician, isn't he? Don't tell us politicos aren't used to prevarication. In this department, they can be classified as world-class.

If you'll notice, three of those arrested -- Abdul Muhamad, Abdullah Butuan and Abdulaji Mangco -- were directly fingered by key eyewitnesses. They had allegedly come from Camp Abubakar, the MILF headquarters in Maguindanao, and were said to have been dispatched by the MILF's Vice Chairman for Military Affairs Al Haj Murad (who has been getting a lot of publicity over the past two years). Therefore, we're not fumbling around in the dark here: The threat comes from Camp Abubakar which, if the May 30 "peace" deadline is not met, will be stormed by the Army and the Marines.

It's also interesting that a Muslim policeman was also arrested -- namely, SPO3 Ali Samad, detailed with the Western Police District Station 8. He's supposed to be the "inside man" and a provider of arms and explosives to the group.

If you will recall, the two Spanish nuns who were kidnapped four years agoand held for two months by Moro rebels (subjected to assault and humiliation) weren't seized by the insurgents. The nuns were abducted by Muslim PNP constables, who turned them over to their pals, the rebels. Does this mean we should distrust all Muslim policemen, soldiers, or officials? We should distrust EVERYBODY. In "wartime", misplaced trust leads to debacle or death.

It's good that shoppers have returned to the shopping malls and markets in droves. It's beginning to look like "business as usual" again. Normalcy is the best answer to the terrorist: It will tell him that his attempt to cow the population has failed.

On the other hand, while our PNP and military are fighting a war against insurgency, they mustn't forget the primary war against crime. Despite all the propaganda "good news" statistics, crime hasn't taken a holiday.

What the street gangs have been doing, and continue doing unabated, is harass and rob the average wage earner. There are dozens of jeepney "holdups" particularly on payday, when passengers are robbed at gunpoint or knifepoint by criminals who board, then jump off. Are the cops on the beat turning a blind eye on these crimes? These may appear like petty crimes, but they're not petty. When a daily-wage worker or a salaried worker loses his pay envelop or his meager savings to a holdup man, that's a major tragedy. The mahirap are hurting -- where it hurts, in their tattered and torn pockets.

The President should tell National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre, Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo "Jun" Siazon, and his other Cabinet members who keep on shooting off their mouths about the "hostage situation" in Sulu to shut up. From now on, there must be only one person giving out information: The man-on-the-spot, Secretary Robert Aventajado. It's Aventajado who's negotiating in Patikul, Sulu, not those "rear-end" commandos in Metro Manila.

The global spotlight, thankfully, has shifted to other hot spots on this planet -- the coming "fall" of plucky Eritrea to advancing Ethiopian forces; the "capture" by Fijian putschists of the radio-TV station there; the release by Sierra Leone rebels of more than a hundred United Nations "peacekeeping" troops originally captured and held hostage by them; the "bombing" of a church in Medan, in a Christian area of Sumatra (Indonesia) by Indonesian Muslim fanatics, and the massacre of Catholics in the Moluccas by Muslim extremist raiders who swept in by sea; the Tamil Tiger "rebel" offensive raging in Sri Lanka, with the government forces barely holding the line (and 40,000 government troops in danger of being cut off); the abject retreat of the Israel Defense Forces from their 20-year occupation of Southern Lebanon and the "victory celebrations" of the Iran-backed Shiite Muslim guerrillas, the Hezbollah, and the Amal guerrilla fighters.

With the gaze of the world turned elsewhere (God's little children have problems and troubles everywhere), perhaps a sensible deal can now be cut with the more pragmatic leaders of the Abu Sayyaf. The fanatics and fundamentalists among their "chiefs" made the opening gambit of demanding, as usual, the creation of Mindanao as an independent "Islamic state." Avantejado, as government negotiator, replied, "No way." Now, hopefully, the real bargaining can begin. Or whatever.

We hope to get the 21 foreign hostages, captured in that daring Moro raid on the Malaysian island resort of Semporna last April 23, released -- and returned to their families safe and sound. But in a state of insurgency, with a bunch composed of all sorts of aggressive types holding them prisoner, nothing can be guaranteed or taken for granted. Incidentally, the "captives" aren't all in one compound or clearing. They have been parceled out to different Abu Sayyaf encampments for "keeping."

Finally, life isn't fair. Would you believe? A friend just in from Sabah where the "raided" Semporna seaside resort on Sipadan island is located, just off Malaysian-controlled North Borneo, says that, instead of being shunned by tourists the resort is now full of visitors.

Is this logical? Foreign tour planners, including Japanese, have convinced would-be holidaymakers that in the aftermath of the Abu Sayyaf raid, Semporna and Sipadan Island, patrolled by a penitent Malaysian Navy, are now "safe." Isn't that rich? We're the ones getting the blame and the bad reputation.

Oh well. At least in Malaysia, it can ruefully be pointed out, a clumsy plane high-jacker, clutching a pistol, a grenade and a makeshift parachute, still hasn't sneaked aboard a commercial plane -- like the ill-fated Reginald Trance Chua, who, unfortunately, bungled his escape.

We've had such a streak of bad luck that, perhaps, good luck is just around the corner. In childhood I learned that consuelo de bobo is the best antidote to despair. When I was covering the Middle East, there was an Arab proverb which said that Allah protects all "mad men." Allah or God must indeed love and protect us. For He made so many of us mad.

Our Coast Guard did the right thing in intercepting that Chinese fishing boat "poaching" so arrogantly INSIDE our territorial waters off Palawan. It's equally admirable that our Philippine coastal patrolmen returned fire when the crew of the Chinese vessel started shooting, and killed the skipper then arrested seven of the crew members.

We can expect the usual "protest" from Beijing. But what the hell! When the Chinese intrude, insolently, into our territorial waters, then they should know they'll be met with all the force we can muster. The Chinese, by their bullying ways, have managed to cow so many in Asia and in the West (they even conned the Americans, playing on the greed of US business and the political establishment, into granting them an absurd "permanent normal trading relationship," but that's not our concern). For our part, we have to stand fast against their intrusions. We can do it. Let's never substitute wishbone for backbone in our dealings with them.

What I worry about is that they can sniff out "fear" even across miles of ocean. The trouble is that some of our so-called statesmen get weak in the knees when confronted by the bellows (more bark than bite) of the Chinese "giant." C'mon, guys! I've a sneaking suspicion that most of those 1.2 billion Chinese can't swim.