After hosting the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, President Aquino flies to Kuala Lumpur today for another regional gathering, this time hosted by Malaysia. The APEC summit’s Manila Declaration focused on one particular message: it condemned terrorism and called for global action against the threat.
The President will be in the Malaysian capital just three days after the Abu Sayyaf beheaded a Malaysian hostage who was snatched with a compatriot from a restaurant in the Sabah town of Sandakan in May. Philippine officials said Malaysia paid P100 million for the hostages but the Abu Sayyaf freed only one as the bandits demanded more money. The officials said the Philippines was kept in the dark about the ransom negotiations.
While Philippine officials may blame Malaysia for giving in to a ransom demand, the Abu Sayyaf is still the perpetrator. The bandit group, loosely linked to al-Qaeda, is based in the Philippines where the government has failed to neutralize the threat. Last year, the bandits said they received P250 million as ransom for two German captives – a claim the government has not convincingly denied.
Abu Sayyaf attacks are among the reasons why the Philippines is rated the 11th worst among 162 countries in the 2015 Global Terrorism Index. Although this is an improvement from its ninth place in the 2014 index, the Philippines is still rated the second worst affected by terrorism after Thailand among Southeast Asian countries. Indonesia is a far 33rd, Myanmar is 41st and Malaysia 49th.
Southeast Asian states that not too long ago suffered bloody internal strife rated better than the Philippines, with Cambodia at 113th and Vietnam tying with Singapore and Timor Leste at 124th place. Globally, Iraq was rated the worst followed by Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.
The index included killings not only by the Abu Sayyaf but also by the New People’s Army and Islamic separatists. The insurgencies have festered for decades, with poverty and social injustice fueling the discontent. The beheading of the Malaysian hostage and the Philippines’ ranking in the terrorism index should spur more resolute action to deal with this threat.