EDITORIAL – Training ground

It’s not the first time that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been accused of training Muslim militants in its former strongholds in Maguindanao. When such reports came out several months ago, the MILF leadership simply shrugged and claimed the training ended when their camps were overrun by government forces in early 2000. But now that the government is threatening to push for the MILF’s inclusion in the US list of terrorist organizations – a move that could cut off financing for the separatist group – the MILF is denying the training.

This week a prime suspect in a deadly restaurant bombing in Indonesia told a court in Jakarta that he and other Indonesian militants underwent training in an MILF camp. The militants are identified with Jemaah Islamiyah, the group linked to al-Qaeda that has been tagged in the deadly bombings in Bali, Indonesia last year. Subsequent reports said nearly a hundred Islamic militants underwent training at Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s main redoubt.

This should raise an alarm about how easy it is for foreigners to enter the country and engage in illegal activities. There isn’t even a need for such troublemakers to enter the country through the southern backdoor; getting in through the NAIA or some other international airport using regular travel documents is easier.

Filipinos wouldn’t mind so much if such foreigners came here simply for terrorist training and a bit of rest and recreation. But there are those who use their training against Filipinos. Indonesian Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who is serving time in Manila for possession of explosives, has admitted his role in the bombings that killed 20 people in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000. Al-Ghozi and his alleged Filipino cohort, Saifullah "Muklis" Yunos, said funding for that attack was provided by the suspected leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Muslim cleric who is detained in Indonesia.

The government will need to have a better system of monitoring the entry and activities of certain foreigners. Sharing intelligence with neighboring countries as well as tightening security in all ports of entry can help ferret out undesirable aliens. The terrorist threat is real, and as we have seen in attacks from Metro Manila to Mindanao, deadly.