Pursuing jihadists who blend with us

MRT3’s abrupt scale-back Wednesday is an admission of bungling. The operations-in-charge said trains would lessen to 15 from 20 on peak hours, and chug only 20 instead of 40 kph. A driver had reported strange noise and swaying due likely to axle break. The 60 or so dilapidated coaches will be checked for metal wear. Riders would have to wait 30 minutes longer than usual. If more defects are found the downgrade would become permanent. There is no guarantee that the three train derailments of last April, due to crushed axle bearings, won’t recur.

Unstated by the (mis)manager is who’s at fault. For one, the sloppy maintenance firm that he’s been abetting is remiss in its P3.8-billion contract. Since commencing in Jan. 2016 it has hardly bought crucial spare parts and equipment; it just keeps blaming MRT-3’s broken tracks for the twice to thrice daily train breakdowns. Short of capital, it also has not overhauled any of the 43 contracted coaches. Had the upkeep and overhaul been done, there would be no axle problem. The MRT-3 guy even acts as the monthly fee collector of the favored contractor.

Two, that MRT-3 man has been unable to run any of the 48 coaches he endorsed from China. If the trains were running, there would be no need to slash operations today. But, costing another P3.8 billion, the units arrived lacking motors and signaling, and untested for 5,000 km. He’s collecting too for the broker, the same shoddy maintenance contractor.

*      *      *

The predicament of Iligan City vice mayor Jemar Vera Cruz mirrors that of the entire government. He reliably has been informed of infiltration by Maute jihadists fleeing imminent rout by the army in nearby Marawi. But unarmed and mingling with innocent civilians, they can only be watched by authorities. Only when they begin to commit overt acts of terror can they be interdicted. Cagayan de Oro City too likely is being penetrated. The Solicitor General averred, in defending martial law before the Supreme Court, that Islamic State-inspired Maute terrorists had planned to storm Marawi, Iligan, and Cagayan this Muslim Ramadan fasting season, just that they were preempted by a police raid on their chieftain’s lair in Marawi. In Cagayan too, authorities can only stay alert.

The government must balance the defense of the state against terrorism and citizens’ basic rights. Martial law in Mindanao merely made it easier to arrest suspected Islamist extremists, but did not suspend civil liberties. Disaffected folk still have freedom of speech, assembly, creed, and mobility. Persons arrested on suspicion of terrorist links must be charged within three days, or else freed. The charges must be solid, or else dismissed by the court.

So in Iligan, Cagayan, and the rest of Mindanao, authorities need to double-time intelligence and investigation. Muslim clerics, mostly moderate, can tell extremists from the flock and sometimes even know the radicals. It would be wise to cultivate their support for the anti-terror drive by proving that the government intends not to commit excesses but only do right. No longer should officials, as the Defense Secretary lamented, mis-assess intelligence findings. The police and military brass already knew about the impending Maute strikes, yet traveled with the President to Moscow, where news surprised them of the 500-strong Maute attack force in Marawi on May 23.

Painstaking investigation is critical. On TV news the other night was shown a policeman screening the latest batch of civilians rescued from the Maute siege in Marawi. One of the young males sounded unusually lively unlike the dejected hungry others, and had just shorn his hair unlike the unkempt refugees. Letting the other through to the evacuation camp, the cop had to detain the guy for further questioning. He suspected him to be a fleeing Maute.

The fight against cyber-jihad is as tricky. The same Internet that affords common citizens communication and socialization also opens them to fraudsters, child pornographers, cyber-bullies – and radicalizers. Extremists use the Net to plot, execute, and propagandize terror. Western governments have begun to strike back with legislation. In some European countries new laws severely fine social media and search engines that “do not act expeditiously,” say, take down within the day at least 50 percent of complained accounts and sites, for child porn. The US has the same against copyright infringement. Still, Internet carriers are careful, lest they be accused of editorial judgment against legitimate though unorthodox news and views.

Technology can turn the tables on cyber-jihadists. The microphones and photo-video features of their gadgets can be used to eavesdrop on evildoers.

*      *      *

Last weekend to view Hotdog Dennis Garcia’s “Songs on Canvas” exhibit. His oils and acrylics feature uniquely Filipino characters and capers. Much like his compositions like “Annie Batungbakal,” “Bitin sa Iyo,” “Manila,” “Miss Universe ng Buhay Ko,” “Beh, Buti Nga,” “Bongga Ka ’Day,” “Bandang Pinoy,” and more. Have fun matching the song titles with the pictures, at the Ricco Renzo Art Gallery, LRI Design Plaza, N. Garcia (formerly Reposo) St., Bel Air-2, Makati, till June 18.

*      *      *

Last weekend the Philippines lost one of its most illustrious fine artists, Mauro Malang Santos; he was 89. Malang’s works span six decades, starting in the ’50s as a cartoonist-illustrator, then blossoming into the renowned painter-printmaker. Born in 1928 Manila, Malang’s early drawings depicted rural lifes caught in rapid urbanization that he grew up in. His temperas and pastels were mostly of pastoral scenes. Always he portrayed provincial characters – fish vendors, churchgoers, cock fighters, nursing mothers, kite fliers – in vivid colors with which he viewed human life. Admirers cherish Malang’s transforming his simpler works into prints, to make fine art known and affordable to a wider audience. “Art for the Masses,” as he roused fellow-artists and teachers.

*      *      *

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).

Gotcha archives on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jarius-Bondoc/1376602159218459, or The STAR website http://www.philstar.com/author/Jarius%20Bondoc/GOTCHA