When even contact lens solution and baby formula can be turned into terrorist tools, no threat can be taken for granted. The latest alert in Metro Manila was apparently triggered by the arrest of three men in Maguindanao Sunday afternoon. Security officials said the three were carrying improvised explosives and were about to board a Manila-bound ferry when apprehended. Authorities are investigating the three men’s links to the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front; MILF leaders, who are discussing peace with the government, have disowned the suspects.
In 2004, the Abu Sayyaf, working with Jemaah Islamiyah or JI, had set off a bomb in a ferry as it sailed out of Manila Bay. With over a hundred people dead, it was the worst terrorist attack in the country. This time another deadly bombing might have been foiled; security officials are verifying if the three suspects in Maguindanao were set to stage bomb attacks in Metro Manila to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary.
As three suspects were apprehended, three others seem to have gotten away. There were reports yesterday that Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and two Malaysian JI members wanted for the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia had slipped out of Sulu, where a military offensive to flush out the terrorists is entering its second month. The three have a combined bounty of $16 million on their heads.
Even with the country’s three top terrorists on the run, there are others out there who are free to plot the next deadly attack. There is no rest from vigilance against extremism. The vigilance may border on paranoia, but in the age of terror, it is better to be paranoid than sorry.