Relatives of victims of terror attacks and former hostages of al-Qaeda-linked groups relived their ordeal yesterday, this time hopeful that there will be no more like them following the implementation of the Human Security Act (HSA).
Memorial services were also held at the Loyola Memorial Park in Parañaque to coincide with the government’s launching of the HSA, or the anti-terror law, at Malacañang.
President Arroyo asked the public yesterday to give the HSA a chance to succeed as she vowed to put more resources and “investments in security” to crush terrorism and uphold human rights.
With the theme “Remembering the victims, honoring the heroes,” families of victims and survivors of at least 10 terror incidents affecting mostly Filipinos expressed strong support for the anti-terror law and chided those opposing it before the Supreme Court (SC) for being “callous.”
In her speech, Mrs. Arroyo said the government now has the “legal muscle to help end the paralysis of fear, empowered with a law that identifies terrorism and penalizes it, a law that preserves and protects freedom.”
“Today we raise the bar on our campaign against terrorists who kill, bomb and maim to enforce an ideology of evil,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “Talk is cheap. It is action that counts. I ask the public to give the Human Security Act a chance.”
Traffic Enforcer Wilson Balceta, who was injured in the 2005 Valentine’s Day bombing in EDSA, Makati City, briefly narrated before the audience composed of diplomats, lawmakers and security officials, his experience during the attack attributed to the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf.
“I never expected that this would happen to me so I thank God that I survived,” Balceta said in Filipino.
Also invited to the ceremonies was former Christian missionary Gracia Burham, who was held captive along with her late husband for over a year by the Abu Sayyaf and is now living in the United States. Burnham was not able to make it to the affair but she sent a message that was read by Executive Secretray Eduardo Ermita.
Burnham’s husband Martin died in the rescue operations by the Philippine Army in Zamboanga Sibugay in 2002.
“It would have been my pleasure to hear the stories of heroism that you will hear today. What an honor it would have been to meet your family members who have faced the trauma of having a loved one who has been victimized,” Burnham said in her statement.
“I would love to have been able to remind you of what Martin and I learned when we were held for so long by the Abu Sayyaf, that ‘the Lord is near to the broken hearted. He rescues those who are crushed in Spirit’,” she said.
Burnham thanked the government for its “commitment to eradicating terrorism in your area of the world.”
Nenita Gudmalin, whose 25-year-old brother Dante died in the same bomb attack, also supports the implementation of the anti-terror law.
John De Bries, 39, who survived the Rizal Day bombings in Manila in 2000 and now works at Radio-TV Malacañang, said: “I hope these incidents never happen again with this law.”
“The next three years will see record levels of well thought out and generous funding for investments in crushing terrorism wherever it threatens, regardless of ideology; and in putting a stop to human rights abuses whatever the excuse,” she said.
Ambassador Leonides Caday, who was a victim in the bombing of the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta in 2001, said the HSA “is not perfect… so we have to address its shortcomings as we implement it,” Caday said without elaborating.
Other survivors who attended the ceremonies were Angelito Nayan, a former NGO worker who was abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2004; Angelo dela Cruz, a truck driver kidnapped in Baghdad in July 2004; and Roberto Tarongoy, who was also kidnapped in Iraq in November the same year; and John Saturno, Abelardo Annonuevo, and Melvin Verde Prado, who were among the Marines who survived an ambush by Islamic militants in Basilan recently.
US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney recalled that she was in Washington during the 9/11 attacks and she heard the explosion when one of the hijacked planes slammed into the Pentagon.
She immediately worried about her husband, who was supposed to have a meeting in the Pentagon and wondered whether some of their friends were there.
“Terrorists don’t care about borders, nationalities, faith and culture. They seek to destroy lives, dreams and properties,” Kenney said. “We pay respects to heroes who fight for peace and freedom and we dedicate ourselves to build lives and create a world where terror no longer exists.”
At the Loyola Memorial Park in Parañaque, relatives of victims of the Superferry 14 bombing on February 2004 and of other terrorist attacks gathered to remember the death of their loved ones, as the Human Security Act was officially launched.
The remains of the victims of the Superferry bombing were buried in a mass grave in the said memorial park.
“When that (the incident) happened, my whole world was shattered. I feel the pain that my son experienced in that tragedy, until now the pain is with me,” said Cynthia Filipinas.
Her son Rodil, 17, a student of Mindanao State University, had a lot of dreams. He was a good scholar and speaker. Cynthia thought he would be a good doctor someday, until the terror attack took his life.
Mike Clifford Cabalang, whose father Honorio died during the bombing, said that all their dreams were lost after the incident, because his mother is now having a hard time earning money for their education and other needs.