EDITORIAL - Mouthing, not Maute, is the real threat

Cebu Vice Governor Agnes Magpale is correct. The public should exercise vigilance in face of the new reality we all face – the threat of terrorism. But she is wasting her time telling crazy people not to spread rumors about impending terrorist attacks. If they were not crazy in the first place, they would not be getting their kicks at other people's expense.

So, instead of wasting her time trying to talk sense into senseless minds which will not take us anywhere, maybe she could do so much better, as head of the legislature, by crafting a measure that makes it punishable to spread false information by whatever means. And in case such a measure already exists, perhaps it can be amended to make the punishment something the violators will not forget.

Her other call, which is for the police to issue an official statement about rumors circulating on social media about an impending terrorist attack, is also a step in a very wrong direction. The reason why terrorists sometimes get to be a step ahead of the authorities is because the authorities do not know when to open their mouths and when to shut up.

The authorities should stop issuing statements as if statements are going out of fashion, like what this Cebu City councilor by the name of Dave Tumulak is doing. Tumulak, who has styled himself as a security expert, is going to town announcing every security measure the authorities have taken supposedly to prevent the entry of terrorists from the sea.

Well, if Tumulak only cared to turn around, he will probably see the terrorists snickering behind his back as they take note of every security detail he just cannot keep to himself and to those who need to know. If Tumulak can take out an advertisement, he would advertise how he and the Coast Guard have set up detachments in Pasil. Thanks to the tip, the terrorists, if ever they have a plan for Cebu, will find someplace else to land other than Pasil.

The problem with the problem we are facing is that people who are in no position to help fight terrorism are the ones taking up so much space at the head of the effort to fight it. In fact, in their unbridled eagerness to help where no help from them is required, except perhaps to just sit tight and shut up, they have unwittingly become a virtual fifth column – to the express delight of the enemy watching their antics.