CHAPTER 4 Terrorism and Philippine Armed Groups: Networks, Lists, and the Peace Process (Overview) Soliman M. Santos, Jr.
Introduction Two points are worth making at the outset of this overview of terrorism in the Philippines after 11 September 2001. First, terrorism—the deliberate targeting of civilians to spread terror or extreme fear among the civilian population—is a very real problem that needs to be tackled in earnest. A Human Rights Watch report, illustrated with photographs of bombing sites and victims, reports that violent Islamist groups in the Philippines have killed or injured more than 1,700 people in bombings, kidnappings, executions, shootings, and other attacks since 2000 (Human Rights Watch, 2007). Some 40 major bombings took place between February 2000 and July 2007, mostly in the southern island region of Mindanao, but also in the Manila capital region. But although the problem of terrorism should not be denied, neither should it be exaggerated.1 Nor, as has happened in the Philippines, should it be conflated with more fundamental problems of a different nature, discussed below. The second point is that terrorism is a serious violation of human rights, including the most basic right to life and the right to freedom from fear. Effective actions to counter terrorism should also, of course, comply with human rights standards. One of the consequences of the Philippine government’s anti-terrorism campaign has been an escalation in human rights violations, the brunt of which has been borne by the Muslim minority community. This overview pits the prevailing international anti-terrorism discourse against a more grounded and historically informed perspective of the main security problem in the Philippines. It focuses on what might be called ‘the Part One Thematic Chapters
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