Ex-AFP chief says Internet drawing new breed of terrorists

MANILA, Philippines – Retired Armed Forces chief Gen. Benjamin Defensor yesterday warned the government that a new breed of terrorists are using the Internet to learn how to manufacture bombs and later act on their own to sow terror.

Defensor told reporters during the Friday Balitaan news forum at the Rembrandt Hotel in Quezon City that these terrorists monitor developments around the world and visit extremist websites where they get ideas on how to assemble improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

“This new breed of terrorists have never met Osama bin Laden but they carry attacks on their own,” he said.

Defensor, a former Air Force general, said that terrorists are originally defined as people who take hostages or bomb civilian targets to achieve political goals but later, also branded as terrorist are people who commit criminal acts without any political objective.

He said determining a terrorist depends on the armed group one is identified with; if they fight the government they are branded as rebels or terrorists by the government but if they win the revolution they would be hailed as heroes of the revolution.

“A terrorist may become a statesman, a president or even a hero,” Defensor said.

Defensor, also a lecturer on terrorism in other countries, said that with advanced technology the terrorists are now more sophisticated in their operations.

He said that in the Philippines the monitoring of terrorist activities has been compromised because of conflicting reports and differing intelligence of law enforcement agencies.

Some of the information fed to the media may be outdated and no longer exist, he said.

Defensor said the more accurate intelligence report should come from the Department of National Defense (DND) or the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which has a nationwide network of military, police, and civilian personnel that is updated on developments at the local level.