EDITORIAL - No room for complacency

Since its creation about two decades ago, the Abu Sayyaf has been written off several times as a spent force. Yet the group has always managed to stage a deadly comeback, in recent years in tandem with Jemaah Islamiyah and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

It is useful to bear this in mind amid Washington’s positive assessment of the Philippines’ counterterrorism efforts. In its recently released country reports on terrorism, the US State Department noted that stronger counterterrorism measures and operations had greatly diminished the capability of terrorist groups in the Philippines to launch attacks.

The State Department report included the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah or JI and the communist New People’s Army, which is on the US list of foreign terrorist organizations. The report noted that the Philippines had maintained constant pressure on terrorist groups while at the same time intensifying development efforts in areas affected by radical and extremist activities.

This positive assessment should not lull the Philippines into complacency. Groups that foment violence tend to be durable in this country. The Abu Sayyaf has been emasculated several times in the past, with the killings of its founding leader Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani and several key commanders, and during US-backed operations in Basilan in 2002. Yet the group has managed to sustain its notoriety. The latest State Department report did not yet include the ambush of seven Marines, four of whom were decapitated, in Patikul, Sulu last July 28 by Abu Sayyaf members led by Radulan Sahiron and Isnilon Hapilon.

During the Estrada administration, government forces also overran all MILF camps, which JI was using to conduct training on bomb making and other terrorist operations. JI has since lost most of its key members, but security officials cannot rule out the possibility that new commanders may emerge. Terrorists can have immense patience in their preparations for an attack. They can lie low for many years, and then strike when societies relax their guard. There is no room for complacency in this fight.