Cebu hosts a world confab on counter terror!

If the hotels and resorts in Mactan are filled to capacity today, even after the heavy traffic Lenten Week season, it is because the three-day (April 20-22nd) world's First Counter-Terrorism Expert's Conference (CTEC) reels off today at the Mactan Island's Shangri-La Resort and Spa. I had a long interview yesterday afternoon with my good friend, former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Gen. Benjamin "Benjie" Defensor whose new job is being Ambassador for Counter Terrorism and for this affair, he is the Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Counter Terrorism Task Force.

Here we are right in the midst preparing for the coming ASEAN Summit, when suddenly without fanfare, a big international conference is held right here in Cebu because as Gen. Defensor intimated to me, Cebu is close to his heart as it is in the heart of the country, where Christianity was first planted, and it is in the crossroads of our nation's past and present conflicts, like the Communist insurgency in the North or the Muslim Separatist from the South. Cebu is in the middle of the country, and that's exactly what CTEC delegates expect to come up with - a middle ground solution to our global problems of terrorism. One of the main objectives of the CTEC is to identify key dilemmas and difficulties in fighting terrorism from global, regional and national perspectives. Gen. Defensor hopes to come up with the Cebu Concord (much like the Doha Round in the WTO talks) as a template to map areas of convergence in counter terrorism. So we welcome the more than 150 CTEC delegates or experts on Counter Terrorism from all over the world to this one-of-a-kind conference. Let's hope that they will come up with a strong Cebu Concord that would make for a better-secured world.

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I was looking at the news photo of Cebu Customs Collector Lourdes Mangaoang the other day, opening a container with a Kia Sorento SUV inside. This was the shipment of ten luxury vehicles that was intercepted by this feisty lady collector and now this issue is finally out in the open. The first thing we'd like to know is, who was the consignee in this shipment? For sure this consignee is a fictitious name or a nobody. However if you put a tracer on these vehicles, it would certainly end up in those used car dealers that have sprouted in Cebu and Mandaue City and then, the people in the upper crust who can afford those vehicles would soon be proudly driving these vehicles on our streets!

This is a very interesting story that many people belonging to the upper crust in Cebu Society knows by heart because a lot of them who buy these vehicles know too well that these were smuggled from Korea. That means, whether we like it or not, we are part and parcel of a criminal activity and we merely close our eyes; after all, we don't even know the people who got hurt in this criminality, except that they are Koreans. There's no question that we might be dealing with Korean crooks, who steal luxurious Korean cars in their own hometown, pack them on ships leaving for Philippine ports and sell them off as tax-paid vehicles with their Korean accomplices living in the Philippines. Let me point out that this criminal activity isn't exclusively happening here in Cebu. Sure, this syndicate may be paying taxes for these vehicles as they come here and it would surely boost the revenues of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) but aren't we playing our part as a "fence" to Korean criminal syndicates?

It's bad enough for this country to be buying and selling "chop-chop" Suzuki mini-pickups and putting our own brand names like "Multi-Cabs" or "Chariots" or that Korean businessmen are "dumping" old and decrepit or about-to-be-junked Korean cars, because they are still of some value to our motorists. But I would like to believe that we should control ourselves and not play to the whims of these unscrupulous Korean traders who offer cheap luxury SUVs because it didn't cost them anything in the first place, because they stole those vehicles!

This is part and parcel of an international carnapping and smuggling ring and perhaps the time has come for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into this case. Perhaps it is even time to call Interpol and check out who the syndicates are behind this criminality? Let me point out that this story is being openly talked about in high society circles whether your luxury SUV was purchased through a local dealer or a fence. We are a nation of Catholics and one of the Commandments of God is… "Thou Shalt Not Steal," which should also mean thou shalt not buy something that was stolen!

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