Why should we defend the MILF from being branded ‘terrorists’?

According to an Agence France Presse report, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita – himself a former Secretary of National Defense – has said our government has asked Washington DC "to refrain from including the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) in the US State Department blacklist (of foreign terrorist organizations). . . to give the peace talks a chance to succeed."

Why on earth are we doing this? To begin with, we’ve no control over what the American government decides to say or do. If Washington DC brands the rebel MILF " a foreign terrorist organization," or FTO, that’s America’s call – and not ours to either influence, or, worse, dictate.

How could a US declaration derail our Philippine Government’s peace talks with the MILF, scheduled to resume in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, next April 16? The Americans are not a party to these negotiations.

Of course, if the MILF stuffily uses this as an excuse to pull out of peace talks and shun the negotiating table, we can say that our government tried its best to promote a peace deal – then our military and PNP can re-launch their offensive against the MILF, and, in the process, destroy the Jemaah Islamiyah training camps being given safe sanctuary within MILF-controlled "territory".

We cannot blame the United States, nor our next-door, very-worried neighboring countries like Indonesia and Singapore (the Malaysians are less concerned, being the hosts and promoters of the "peace talks") from condemning the collaboration of the MILF with the Jemaah Islamiyah.

Bomb-experts and saboteurs have fanned out to neighboring Southeast Asian countries from those JI training camps in central Mindanao, endangering their societies. In sum, we are "exporting" trouble, just because our Surrender Gang in the government wants peace with the MILF.

It’s absurd to pursue "peace at any price" when the price may include the bombing of more buses not only in Makati or Metro Manila, or more bombs exploding elsewhere in our archipelago. Or bomb-expertise being exported, along with Mindanao-trained terrorists, to other countries in our region.

The terrorist network is very active here. If you’ll recall, only last March 22, an Indonesian bomb "expert" was presented to the media by military intelligence in Camp Aguinaldo. The suspect, Rohmat, alias Zaki (like the late Indonesian President Sukarno, many Indonesians have only one name), appeared like a harmless teenager, but he had been nabbed at a checkpoint in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao with a .45 caliber pistol. It was found he had been present when the Abu Sayyaf leaders Abu Solaiman and Khadaffy Janjalani issued instructions for the February 14 bombings in Makati, General Santos City and Davao. Under grilling, bomb-trainor Rohmat confessed he had been given "sanctuary" by members of the MILF when he had been wounded in an encounter with the military last November.

Last Saturday, a Palestinian national was detained upon arrival at 5 p.m. in Zamboanga City on board a South Phoenix Airways flight (SP 80T) from Sandakan, Malaysia. The basis of his detention was the discovery that the fellow, Fawaz Zi Ajjur, had no valid visa for the Philippines and could present only his Palestinian Passport nr. 1380510.

Fortunately, there was no scheduled return flight for several days on which Fawaz could be "deported" back to his port of origin, namely Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This gave Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Alipio "Al" Fernandez, Jr., and our police and military, who "smelled a rat" time to conduct an investigation.

The check was undertaken by Fernandez, PNP Director Vidal Erfe Querol (Regional Police Director Office 9) and intelligence operatives of the Southcom under Lt. Gen. Alberto "Boysie" Braganza.

The records revealed that the cheeky "arrival" was, indeed, FAWAZ ZAKI AGOUR (or AJOOR) a member of a terrorist group. Two former Abu Sayyaf (ASG) members positively identified Fawaz as one of the six "Arab-looking foreigners" who were in the ASG Camp Adjid in Igasan, Patikul, Sulu sometime in year 2000 instructing them in the manufacture of home-made bombs. Fawaz and his "Arab-looking" companions, the witnesses added, also urged the Abu Sayyaf to conduct kidnappings and high-profile terrorist actions to get international media mileage and embarrass the Philippine government. (Indeed, the ASG succeeded in doing so, to he dismay of both the Estrada and Arroyo Governments).

When President GMA confronted Fawaz zi Ajju as he was presented to the media at Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga, a list of particulars regarding Fawaz’s terrorist activities was read out by Regional Police Director Querol, a PMA’er who’s intelligence-oriented and also, if I recall correctly from my last conversation with him months ago in Zamboanga City, trained in Ft. Leavenworth.

Fawaz, naturally, denied the accusations – but he’s been additionally "identified" as well as having discussed the prospect of conducting pre-May elections bombings in Manila in early 2004 by a foreign national currently detained at the Muntinglupa National penitentiary for illegal recruitment of overseas workers. The "bombings" were supposed to be "ala Madrid", but they luckily weren’t implemented – or were foiled.

Why did Fawaz zi Ajjur return to the Philippines? It’s clear he was intent on instigating more trouble. Yet, how clumsy his re-entry attempt turned out to be – unless the terrorists so scoff at our state of security alertness that they believe they can tiptoe in and out with impunity. (They may have succeeded so easily in infiltrating other terrorist operatives, thus making them careless).

Indeed, yesterday’s Associated Press report on his case said that Fawaz’s route to get here confused investigators. Apparently, he had started out from Russia (perhaps Chechnya?), flown to Thailand, then took a train from there to Malaysia. Then he boarded a plane to Zamboanga.

One thing is clear. The Abu Sayyaf and their terrorist partners from the Jemaah Islamiyah and, possibly, al-Qaeda itself, are plotting more mischief. Let’s not relax our guard.

* * *

I met with Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Alfonso G. Cusi yesterday, and he assured me that the NAIA Terminal 3 would be in operation by July. He said that much still had to be done, so he cannot make it by he earlier-announced June deadline.

He also plans to construct a cargo terminal. It’s now being studied whether the cargo terminal will be built adjacent to the NAIA-3 terminal, or on the old site of the Nayong Pilipino. It seems more plausible, I observed, for an international cargo terminal to be erected next to the NAIA Terminal rather than far across the runway.

As for those claiming to have "bought" concessions from the PIATCO bosses, since all of them had no receipts for the amounts they allege they paid, or legal contracts, Al Cusi explained, concessions in Terminal 3 will have to be bidded out – in sum, "it’s a new airport terminal we’re launching.

In May 2003, he noted, the Supreme Court had ruled that PIATCO ‘s two concession contracts and three supplements are "null and void" ab initio for violating the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) law and the rules on public bidding.

Finally, after three rounds of failed negotiations spanning three years, the President directed the "expropriation" of Terminal 3. The Court will determine the "value of just compensation," which will be paid accordingly, Cusi said.

The Japanese contractor Takenaka Corporation will be paid, based on initial court figures, some US$50 million – with the first payment to be $10 million. The rest of the payment will follow on a staggered $20 million, then a final $20 million basis. Other costs incurred, after proper verification, may also be considered, but Cusi didn’t elaborate on this.

I found Mr. Cusi both earnest and knowledgeable – but he’s got a long way to go in getting Terminal 3 shipshape and in operation. If he can resist the "pressures" being put on him.

Right now, one of his most worrisome problems, I kid thee not, is which of the hundreds of media "reporters" and "correspondents" to credit with passes for the new NAIA-3 airport terminal. Every Tom, Dick and Kulasa wants to get a press "pass"! Gee whiz. Whatta dilemma.