Terrorist or counter-terrorists?

Don’t expect to get a straight answer on this one.

While authorities are busy investigating, it is unlikely that the public will actually get a full disclosure on the Batasan bombing.

For starters, this particular case could go any direction. The attack may be the handiwork of the Abu Sayaff aided by Islamic extremists based a stone’s throw away from the complex or an independent undertaking of specialists within the military who opted for a surgical strike against Congressman Wahab Akbar.

There is a general agreement that the Congressman from Basilan was taken out. But which of the many possibilities could be the real reason? Wahab Akbar had always been his own man. He mastered the art of politics and warfare, made himself as “the only choice” and the “go to” man in Basilan and wherever extremists roamed. He controlled the board and cut the deals with the government as well as extremists.

He was hardly ideal but in the violent world of Basilan and Muslim Mindanao no one was as tough and daring to stand in the middle. Unfortunately, it is possible that Wahab Akbar failed to realize that in the last year the stakes had gone up and the violence had escalated. It was no longer “same old — same old”.

The United States had upped the ante to millions of pesos in terms of rewards for mercenaries and “innocent civilians” desperate enough to sell their neighbors or relatives within the Abu Sayaff. US GIs were in Basilan and other “muslim” towns not just digging latrines but digging for information.

Deprived of their habitat, the extremists became vicious and shocking. They left grizzly reminders of their hatred by beheading military personnel. To drive the stake deeper they would text the families the details of their barbarity. For this, many soldiers made a promise that the sins would not go unpunished.

Unfortunately for Wahab Akbar even warriors have to leave the battle field if they want to keep the powers of public office. So Akbar’s attention was diverted to running his congressional campaign while assisting his wives and allies in their respective attempts to control local elective positions. This again may have been an accidental insult to local male politicians who lost out to “Akbar’s woman”.

Akbar has long been suspected and often accused of being in bed with the Abu Sayaff or being a material provider of extremist groups. He was suspected of aiding if not assisting the Abu Sayaff when they escaped in the early days of hostage takings. Given this scenario, certain independent elements in the military may have had very serious fears or concerns about Akbar becoming a Congressman.

If Akbar worked his way into sensitive military information such as budgets and procurement, became a stumbling block to military plans and programs or used countrywide development funds to develop an army of fighters, the military would find themselves ruined and useless in the south.

 The fact of the matter is we may have a democracy, but sometimes a government may have to defend that democracy at all costs. If the government went through great effort to imprison many party list representatives, it was never personal. The government simply could not take chances on politicians misappropriating funds in order to use the money to kill our soldiers or replace our democratic system with communism or a theocratic Islamic state.

Given the amount of work and legal battles involved in trying to detain Satur Ocampo, Crispin Beltran and other leftists in Congress, someone may have decided it would be a lot faster, simpler and cheaper to take out Wahab Akbar than to go by the book.

If so, we have a very serious situation to deal with.

Given our years of “extrajudicial” killings, the hit on Wahab Akbar could be a signal that the battle is no longer limited to ground level combatants or individuals but now includes high ranking officials and personalities. For now being a potential threat could be cause for “termination”, how long before “having a different opinion” can get you whacked?

The bombing may also signal that the battlefield is now out in the open and civilian casualties will simply be collateral damage.

To be honest, it is a scenario I reluctantly draw but when the Batasan Bombing took place it reminded me of the secret war which was more of a large scale — Top Secret liquidation program that the Israelis carried out against leaders and high profile supporters of the Palestinian Liberation Organization or the PLO after the Munich massacre.

The targets were studied, the hits well planned and almost all of them were clean. One blew up in his car, another answered the phone and the handset which was loaded with C4 took his head off. Several were simply kidnapped and shot between the eyes.

The bombing at the South Wing entrance of the Batasan was not an amateur job. In spite of reports that make it look crude, the damage was very limited, the hit precise, and collateral casualty negligible in terms of attacks using explosives.

The Abu Sayaff are certainly well versed in making explosive devices at par with Afghanistan and Iraq, but would killing Wahab Akbar be good for them? frankly I think they would have more to lose in such an operation.

This matter cannot and should not be treated as a simple police matter, or a terrorist attack. Those in charge or have authority in the investigation must determine with absolute certainty who was behind the attack and why Congressman Wahab Akbar was assassinated.

We need to know if we have right wing assassins declaring an open war? We need to know if it’s a war of ideology or a war over government resources and policies? We need to know if the terrorists have decided to take the fight out of Basilan and into Metro Manila?

And we need to know exactly what government is doing about it?!