GMA seeks new approach in fight vs. terrorism
By MARS W. MOSQUEDA JR.
MACTAN, Cebu PHILIPPINES – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday challenged the more than 500 delegates of the three-day 1st Counter-Terrorism Experts’ Conference (CTEC) in Cebu to come up with fresh approaches in the fight against terrorism.
“It was my vision to have anti-terrorism experts from peace-loving nations in the world to come together and decide on fresh approaches in the global campaign against terrorism,” President Arroyo said in a statement read by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita during the opening ceremony of the three-day conference at the Shangri-la Hotel in Mactan, Cebu.
Arroyo said that a middle path has to be drawn in order to overcome the threats of terrorism without compromising security or sacrificing life. She said that to effectively address terrorism, all pertinent economic, legal and diplomatic means are really necessary.
"For all their contrasting views, I hope that the delegates would find a common path, which lies between all the hard and soft approaches and cuts across international, regional, sub-regional and local strategies," the president said.
The President’s statement also mentioned that the CTEC in Cebu was a fulfillment of the fearless pronouncement she made on Nov. 18, 2005 at the Asian Leaders’ Meeting with US President George Bush in Busan, South Korea that the Philippines will host the conference this year.
“There has to be a way of going beyond our current political and military and police responses to terrorism. To believe that we can win the war against terrorism by means of military and police action alone can be deceptive as it is deficient,” the President said.
In facing terrorism, President Arroyo said that the universal principle of human rights, human dignity, civil liberties, due process, social development, and peaceful cooperation among people and nations must not be compromised as she hoped that the CTEC will bring out fresh approaches in the fight against terrorism.
“Let this first CTEC be a means to arrive at a second medical opinion for the prescription of a new cure for terrorism,” she said.
Attended by more than 500 delegates from at least 60 countries around the world, the first CTEC, carrying the theme "Defeating Dilemmas in Counter-Terrorism", seeks to identify dilemmas and difficulties in fighting terrorism from global, regional, and national perspectives.
Lending substance to the theme will be five subthemes, namely: Strengthening the Basics, Finding a Realistic Middle Ground, Understanding Regional and Sub-Regional
Approaches, Bridging the Gaps and Balancing Assistance, and Paving the Middle Way.
Secretary Ermita, during his speech at the opening of the CTEC, reported that the Philippines has been neutralizing one terrorist every two days under the Philippine Anti-Terrorism Task Force. Among the task force’s accomplishments, Ermita said, include the neutralization of 212 Abu Sayyaf members, arrest of four Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists, 10 suspected foreign jihadists, eight suspected local terrorists, and four members of the Rajah Soliman Islamic movement
“These figures show that our current anti terrorism efforts both at the local and international fronts have paid off quiet well. On the other hand the fear and tension that remain in our midst tell us that our fight against terrorism is really far from over,” said
Ermita.
Ambassador Benjamin Defensor, chairman of the country’s Counter Terrorism Task Force, meanwhile stressed that the recent approval of the anti-terror bill strengthens the fight against terrorism.
Key objective of the 1st CTEC is to come up with "Cebu Concord," a declaration on counter-terrorism that will extensively explore a realistic middle ground to counter-terrorism, Defensor added.
The conference will also try to design a strategic policy response that takes into account sub-regional approaches, addresses peculiar causes and conditions that allow developing countries to strike a balance between receiving counter-terrorism assistance and protecting their cultures and religions.
According to the CTEC task force, the conference will follow the plenary panel discussion-plenary format that will feature two distinguished speakers for each plenary session. Selected experts are invited to anchor and moderate the panel discussions. #
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