Law against terrorism must be updated

After the September 11 attack in New York, the US Congress passed a sweeping anti-terrorism law which President Bush immediately signed into law. Last week, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo urged Congress to swiftly pass an anti-terror law to improve the government’s capability of dealing with the current terrorist threats in Mindanao and Metro Manila. As early as last year, Ambassador Raul I. Goco, in a speech delivered before the Rotary Club at the Manila Hotel, called attention to the fact that anti-terrorism laws, both national and international, are inadequate to cope with terrorists. Summing up the situation, Goco said:

"It is to be noted that in strict sense there is no crime in international law of terrorism. Terrorism is descriptive of the violent methods of modality covering acts or series of acts that constitutes crimes themselves. It may be crimes against persons such as murder, homicide or manslaughter, physical injuries or mutilation; crimes against property, such as arson, robbery, malicious mischief; crimes against personal liberty such as kidnapping; illegal detention or coercion; or even crimes against chastity such as rape. Of course, terrorism or terroristic acts are now regarded as catch-all phrases or labels for these acts."

What complicates the above observation further is the fact that the problem with terrorists today, both national and international, has taken a religious aspect. And as the saying goes, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Now, the Americans have given Iraq till March 17 to totally disarm. If Iraq does not comply, the Iraq situation will go from a crisis to a war. In the Orient, the country that will be most affected by the war in Iraq will be the Philippines. We are the only Christian nation in Asia and we have always been identified with the United States. We hope that if the Iraq war breaks out, it will be limited to Iraq and that it will be over as soon as possible with minimum damage to non-military targets.