EDITORIAL – Remember this threat?

Before coup attempts and assassination plots, security forces were busy dealing with another threat: terrorism. Now the nation has been given a deadly reminder that the threat remains very much around. Early yesterday afternoon, a blast ripped through a store on a busy street in downtown Jolo. As of last night, five of the store’s workers were confirmed dead; at least 17 other people were seriously wounded. The military tagged the Islamist group Abu Sayyaf as the likely culprit.

Last year concerns had been raised that political turmoil would distract the government from the battle against terrorism, which has claimed countless lives from Mindanao to Metro Manila. The turmoil worsened last month, when certain elements in the Armed Forces of the Philippines allowed themselves to be drawn into politics once again. The government cannot afford to let the internal conflict in the AFP compromise the war on a ruthless enemy.

Even without political distractions, the AFP is hard-pressed to contain the terror threat. Intelligence reports from the country’s concerned neighbors indicate that Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists continue to operate training camps in Mindanao, under the protection of certain elements of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. These MILF elements and JI have reportedly linked up with the Abu Sayyaf to stage terrorist attacks from Mindanao to Metro Manila.

It would be foolish to dismiss those reports offhand. JI, the Southeast Asian terror cell loosely linked to al-Qaeda, has been tagged not just in bombings in Bali and Jakarta in Indonesia but also in near-simultaneous attacks in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000 that killed 19 commuters on the Light Rail Transit. JI-assisted Abu Sayyaf members have also been held responsible for the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay on Feb. 27, 2004 that left over 100 people dead, as well as the bus bombing in Makati on Valentine’s Day last year that killed four passengers.

Now five more people are dead on the island that is a traditional stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. There are persistent reports that the terrorists are planning to stage more attacks in Metro Manila. Amid the political unrest, the government cannot afford to let down its guard.