The collective sigh of public relief was palpable after the Philippine National Police determined that the Resorts World attacker was not some lone-wolf operative, as claimed by the ISIS terrorist group, but simply a government employee, one Jesse Carlos, who’d lost his job and owed too much gambling debt.
The initial speculation about terror was completely understandable, with the fighting in Marawi at its height and still going on as of writing. There was the boldness of the RW attack, and then the way that Carlos committed suicide by self-immolation—very similar to suicide bombers who leave no physical evidence of their identities at the crime scene.
Even House Speaker Alvarez jumped into the fray, insisting—with no proof offered—that the PNP’s initial theory about robbery was wrong. Now that the PNP was proven right, we trust that the Speaker will remember to hold his tongue in future—or at the very least advise his ally the President that he intends to open his mouth—when it comes to issues that properly belong to the Executive alone.
But one thing about which the Speaker was spot on was his insistence on a complete investigation into the culpability of Resort World’s owners and management in the glaring lapses in security and guest protection.
From the entry of Carlos in full battle gear with firearm despite front-door security presence, to the lack of coordination between CCTV and security forces clearing the casino-hotel, to the failure to evacuate more guests more quickly and prevent more casualties from smoke suffocation, to the type of carpeting and table material used that readily fed toxic fires—so many questions remain unanswered and answerable for.
We’re willing to bet that other casinos, whether operated or simply overseen by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., have many of the same deficiencies in design and operating assets and protocols that are likely to be found in RW. This is why Pagcor would be better advised, not to offer politically-correct counseling to “gambling addicts,” but rather to conduct a thorough-going audit of systems and procedures in all gambling establishments here.
In fact, we’d go even farther and call for such a compliance audit to be conducted at every tourism and leisure establishment—casinos, hotels, large restaurants, malls, event venues—that routinely hosts large crowds, whether local or foreign. Check out their safety assets and procedures, building design and fit-out materials if compliant with fire code, and whatever else the inquiry into RW will tell us to look into.
Later this month, the United Nations World Tourism Organization will go ahead with its regular international conference in Manila, on the topic of tourism statistics. We owe it to those guys to make sure their courageous vote of confidence in Manila wasn’t misplaced, and that they don’t end up being the latest addition to a grimmer set of statistics.
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Meanwhile in Mindanao, there are real terrorists waging war on our countrymen down there—and, it turns out, a lot more of them doing it than we’d suspected.
Speaking at a Singapore security conference, Indonesian defense minister Ryamizard Racudu claimed that there were as many as 1,200 Islamic State fighters right now in Mindanao, including 40 from Indonesia.
The presence of those foreigners was definitively confirmed with the slaying of some of them during the Marawi siege, including fighters from Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen, Saudia Arabia, and Chechnya.
But Minister Ryamizard’s numbers took our defense officials by surprise. One of them said his own estimate was much lower, only 250 to 400 IS terrorists in total in Mindanao.
That number may have been true a while back, but has probably been eclipsed since then, not only by the influx of foreigners, but also by the new recruits pledging allegiance to IS from Abu Sayyaf, BIFF, and who knows who else, apart from the Maute group who led the initial attack on Marawi.
Between our people and the security officials of Muslim-majority neighbors like Indonesia and Malaysia, I’m disposed to believe the latter, who obviously have much longer and deeper experience with Islamic extremists than we do.
What scares our neighbors to the south is the influx of Southeast Asian terrorists finding their way back home after being beaten back in battlegrounds like Iraq and Syria. Their leaders in IS have already called for the Philippines to be the focus of their jihad to build the caliphate in Southeast Asia, with Maute leader Isnilon Hapilon designated as their go-to guy here.
This kind of scenario makes Mindanao, not just a domestic concern of ours, but also a regional and even global one. With at least four times more IS terrorists down there than we’d thought, and with the Marawi gang digging in for the long haul–inside AND outside that city—we can look forward to a very long and very hot summer.
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As if all this news isn’t bad enough, and only two weeks after the Manchester, UK bombing, London was again hit by terrorists, this time using the primitive method of stabbing. An online site has reportedly called on IS members to attack civilians with guns, knives and trucks during the holy month of Ramadan.
It’s difficult to comprehend the depth of anger that must inhabit the hearts of so-called Muslims who incite violence in the middle of their holiest religious observance. It will be even more inexplicable if it’s eventually discovered, likely as not, that these terrorists were born and schooled in the UK, raised in comfortable middle-class circumstances, and professionally accomplished.
Such people will not respond to solutions designed to uplift them economically or integrate them socially. These measures may work now among our own poverty-stricken Muslim communities in Mindanao, but, perhaps, not forever. It’s something to ponder as we go about realigning our political and economic environment, through federalism, to accommodate their separatist demands.
Should we worry about how much peace we’re buying, and if so, for how long?
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