EDITORIAL - Vigilance

Filipinos return to work today, batteries recharged, from a long Holy Week break that was not disrupted by extremist violence. The government will credit this to tight security throughout the week; skeptics will say there was no threat in the first place. Security forces rarely get credit for foiling a terrorist plot.

In the age of terror, however, it would be foolish to dismiss reported threats. During the Holy Week, it was not just the Philippines but also Indonesia that went on high alert amid intelligence reports that Islamic extremists were plotting to sow terror to disrupt observance of Christian traditions. The plot was disclosed by terrorist suspects captured in recent weeks in the two countries.

In the Philippines, among those who disclosed the plan was Gappal Banna, known as Boy Negro, an Abu Sayyaf recruit who has admitted involvement in the deadly bombing in Makati last Valentine’s Day. Later, Banna’s story was bolstered by information extracted from Rohmat, an Indonesian tagged as a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, who was arrested in Maguindanao on suspicion that he was training both Indonesian and local extremists in bomb making.

Rohmat apparently took over the functions of another Indonesian JI member, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who was convicted of illegal possession of explosives and linked to the deadly bombings in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000. Al-Ghozi was later killed by security forces, but terrorist training continued in several camps in Mindanao, with the protection of certain elements of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Rohmat said. He claimed that among those trained in these camps were men involved in the bombings that killed 202 people in Bali, Indonesia.

There is no special week of rest for these purveyors of hatred and fear. Holy Week or not, public vigilance should continue and security forces must not let down their guard against those who spread their extremist gospel through murder and mayhem.