2005 Valentine’s Day Bombing: Lessons Learned Six Years After

Monday, 14 February 2011 00:01

Written by Rommel Banlaoi

Six years ago on the eve of Valentine’s Day in 2005, three separate but successive explosions occurred in busy cities of Makati, Davao and General Santos. Otherwise known as the Philippines’s mini-9/11, because of sequential nature of the attacks, the Valentine’s Day bombings coincided with the birthday of Kris Aquino, a movie actress and the youngest sister of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

The Makati City blast resulted in the death of four persons and wounding of 60 others. The Davao City and Davao City bombings, on the other hand, caused the death of another four persons and injury of at least 30 others.

Only 3o minutes after the Makati City bombing, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) through its spokesperson, Abu Sulaiman, claimed responsibility for these attacks as “Valentines gifts” to then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The ASG also regarded the three bombings as retaliations “to continued government atrocities” against Muslims in the Southern Philippines.

Abu Sulaiman, whose real name is Jainal Antel Sali Jr., was already killed in action on January 17, 2007 as a result of Oplan Ultimatum waged by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Oplan Ultimatum also caused the death of then ASG Amir, Khadaffy Janjalani.

On January 26, 2011, just a day after the Makati Bus Bombing, which coincided this time with the birthday of former President Corazon C. Aquino, the Supreme Court convicted to reclusion perpetua (or life sentence) the three ASG members responsible for the 2005 Valentine’s Day bombing in Makati City: Gamal Baharan (alias Tapay), Angelo Trinidad (alias Abu Khalil) and Rohmat Abdurrohim (alias Abu Jackie or Zaky).

What lessons have we learned six years after the 2005 Valentine’s Day bombings?

We learned that despite the killing of their leaders and the incarceration of their members, the ASG still has the deep intent and great capability to sow terror not only in Mindanao, but also in Metro Manila.

Though the Philippine National Police (PNP) has already removed the ASG from the list of suspects in the January 25 Makati Bus bombing, we are receiving reports that the ASG has already established a sleeper cell in National Capital Region working with the remnants of the Rajah Solaiman Islamic Movement (RSIM) and so-called Special Operation Group (SOG) of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which the MILF itself claims does not exist. The RSIM, the MILF-SOG and the so-called Moro Islamic Liberation Force lost command are the three groups being currently suspected in the January 25 bombing.

The RSIM is known to be an organization of Muslim convert in Luzon sharing a violent extremist ideology with the ASG. In fact, most RSIM members have been integrated into the ASG since RSIM founder, Ahmad Santos, became the so-called Head of the ASG Media Bureau. RSIM, therefore, can be viewed as the ASG’s operational arm in Metro Manila.

The MILF-SOG, on the other hand, is believed to be working closely not only with ASG but with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) personalities operating in the Philippines. JI has operated in Metro Manila as demonstrated by the Rizal Day bombing in 2000. We are receiving reports that JI continues to maintain a presence in Metro Manila through its local contacts in the city.

In other words, we are learning the hard lesson that law enforcement authorities can effectively kill or put to jail terrorists, but not the virulent idea that endorses acts of terrorism.

We need a better and more convincing idea that rejects the veneration of terrorism.

We also learned that the use of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) continues to be the most favored bombing tool of terrorists. The skill to make IED has been shared with other threat groups in the Philippines whether from the Muslim rebel groups or local communist groups. Because the ASG no longer has the monopoly to make a type of IED that exploded during the January 25 Makati bus bombing, identifying the perpetrator and mastermind is a gargantuan challenge for investigators.

But the hardest lesson learned from the 2005 Valentine’s Day bombing, and the subsequent bombings that have occurred in different parts of the country, is the grim reality that terrorist threat in the Philippines is here to stay unless we seriously undertake strong measures to effectively address the underlying conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism.

According to the United Nations (UN), the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism include, but not limited to, prolonged unresolved conflicts, dehumanization of victims of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, lack of the rule of law and violations of human rights, ethnic, national, and religious discrimination, political exclusion, socio-economic marginalization and lack of good governance. None of these conditions, however, “can excuse or justify acts of terrorism”, says UN.

Despite the threat of terrorism, nothing shall prevent us from celebrating Valentine’s Day this year.

To ensure that there will be no repeat of the 2005 incident, there will be an increased police visibility in major cities of the Philippines because we all deserve a happy Valentine’s Day!