US lauds RP efforts vs terrorism

MANILA, Philippines – Washington has acknowledged that Philippine security forces are making progress in the fight against terrorism.

In its Country Reports on Terrorism 2008, the US State Department hailed the Philippine military and law enforcement agencies for neutralizing 35 suspected terrorists and capturing 16 members of the militant Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), including its co-founder and two bomb makers in Mindanao.

The State Department lauded the Philippine government for its intensive civil-military and internal security operations in clearing out suspected terrorist safe havens in Sulu and Central Mindanao.

The report cited Ruben Pestano Lavilla Jr., a leader and founding member of the RSM, who was arrested in Bahrain and deported to the Philippines.

In December, the Court of Appeals ordered the trial of RSM founder Hilarion “Ahmad” Santos and other suspected RSM members for their alleged involvement in multiple bombings and kidnappings in the Philippines in 2005 and 2006.

The report said the US counterterrorism strategy of offering development opportunities in areas at risk for terrorist recruitment continued to marginalize the small remaining numbers of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the regional Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network from Muslim insurgents in the southern Philippines.

While the 5,000-strong New People’s Army (NPA) continued to disrupt public security and business operations with intermittent attacks on communication and transportation infrastructure throughout the Philippines, the US report said the rebels are declining in number and effectiveness.

“However, the NPA remained steadfast in its refusal to accept President Arroyo’s broad amnesty overtures, turning down offers to negotiate unless its US and international designations as a terrorist organization were rescinded,” the report said.

RSM maintained close links to ASG and JI, and was alleged to have been responsible for multiple attacks in the Philippines.

In early 2008, RSM was included in the UN 1267 Committee sanctions list. This led to the freezing of suspected RSM bank accounts and other assets.

As in recent years, the report identified the ASG, JI, NPA, and RSM as the active terrorist groups in the Philippines.

US intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance supported Armed Forces of the Philippines’ operations against terrorist elements in the southern Philippines, while the US Department of Justice criminal investigation and antiterrorism programs trained approximately 5,000 police and other security personnel.

The report said the implementation of the Coastwatch South program continued to move forward with its radar stations and sea-surface and aerial assets dramatically improving the government’s oversight of the “Terrorist Transit Triangle” region bordered by the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The US Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s newly developed Philippine Biometric Initiative has provided the Philippine National Police (PNP) with fingerprints, photographs, and other information on 130 suspected terrorists.

The passage of the Human Security Act (HSA) in 2007 was an important step in the modernization of tools available to Philippine law enforcement for use against terrorists, according to the report.

It noted that the law permits wiretapping of members of judicially designated terrorist organizations, and financial investigations of individuals connected to terrorist organizations.

“However, the law’s tight restrictions have limited its actual application,” the report said.

The same report stated that the key difficulty in implementing the law is that stiff fines would be imposed on the law enforcement agency for violating a suspect’s rights if the accused is later acquitted or the case is dismissed.

The Act did, however, provide for the establishment of an Anti-terrorism Council to effectively implement counterterrorism efforts in the country and ensure inter-agency cooperation.

The Council focused its first year’s efforts in building the organizational and administrative infrastructure necessary to facilitate closer cooperation between its members and supporting agencies.

“The United States had excellent cooperation from Philippine law enforcement officials in obtaining access to terrorist detainees and witnesses for FBI interviews, and access to criminal, immigration, financial, and biographic records via the mechanisms established in the US-Philippine Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT),” it added.

The Philippine Security Engagement Board was the primary mechanism for the planning and coordination of non-traditional security issues, including counterterrorism and maritime security.

“Throughout the year, the (US) Embassy continued to achieve significant progress in supporting the counterterrorism efforts of the Philippine government, including well-coordinated Embassy programs aimed at strengthening security forces and promoting peace and development in Mindanao,” the report said.

“This pro-active partnership with the Philippine government has yielded solid results in combating terrorist elements, including ASG, JI, and the NPA,” the report added.

The Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) Program continued to increase the capabilities of Philippine law enforcement agencies to detect, deter, counter, and investigate terrorist activities in the Philippines through carefully targeted and sequenced delivery of training courses and equipment grants.

Last year, ATA increased its focus on Mindanao by providing valuable training in a wide range of areas, including interdicting terrorist activity, explosive incident countermeasures, post-blast investigation, advanced computer forensics, and cell phone forensics.

ATA instituted a K-9 program of bomb-detection dogs with the PNP by funding US-trained dogs, their handlers, veterinarians, and kennel facilities.

ATA assistance has also focused on training in response mechanisms to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) terrorism.

On the prevention end of the spectrum, US assistance under the Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) has received strong cooperation from the Philippine government in securing laboratory infrastructure, dangerous pathogen collections, and raising awareness on biological threats to prevent bioterrorism in the Philippines, a place where burgeoning biotechnology, infectious diseases, and transnational terrorist threats coexist.

The US Department of Justice/International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (DOJ/ICITAP) had trained 4,197 police personnel and pursued police development primarily through the Model Police Station Program.

The program trained PNP personnel from at 10 stations in 15 critical subjects, including the Maritime Police Project, which when completed will equip maritime police in Palawan with special patrol boats to monitor the western Sulu Sea bordering Malaysia.

The program also created the Southern Philippines Law Enforcement Development Project, which entailed training PNP personnel in basic police operations and investigation techniques in Sulu.

Other programs have included the DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) development of the Philippine Biometrics Initiative, whereby fingerprints, photographs, and other information on suspected terrorists were collected and provided to the appropriate Philippine government agencies.

The Coastwatch South program is aimed at dramatically improving oversight of the tri-border “Terrorist Transit Triangle” with the use of 12 to 17 coastal radar sites connected by a string of air, ocean, and ground surveillance and interdiction assets, including Forward-Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR) pods for Philippine Navy aircraft and 10 rigid-hull inflatable boats.

The US State Department also acknowledged the Department of Foreign Affairs for its implementation of the long-overdue digitized, machine-readable passports in all its locations. –Pia Lee-Brago, Philippine Star