Thursday, November 15, 2007 Editorials: Bomb blast at the Batasan
PROBERS are initially pointing to Rep. Wahab Akbar as the target of the blast that killed him and threee others and injured nine persons at the Batasan Tuesday night.
Making that conclusion seems easy: Akbar is from Basilan where the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf is operating and politics in that place tend to get violent at times.
Although one may ask why the killers would go to the extent of killing Akbar at the House of Representatives when they have better chances of doing that elsewhere.
But the Akbar angle is an initial idea and could be replaced by other theories (remember the Glorietta blast where probers’ talk shifted from bombing to accident?)
Impressions
The target, however, could only be secondary to the fact that the explosion happened inside the Batasan complex that houses one chamber of the country’s Congress.
It not only showed a breach in security for an important institution like the House but also sends a message that even government facilities are not safe from attacks.
Worse, it gives the impression of deterioration in the peace and order situation, something that President Arroyo’s critics are using even now as proof of her failings.
Target
Which could be what the attackers may have been intending, especially if their target was not Akbar but the House, or both, in order to sow terror in the country.
And it does not help that the country’s politics is factionalized and volatile and that a good number of people have become indifferent---a setup that favors anarchists.
Still, it pays for all well-meaning citizens to condemn the attack and its message of violence, whether or not it is directed at one person or the institution/government itself.
Cycle
And may the positive things spawned by the incident, like efforts by authorities to beef up or straighten out the security of important facilities not be a ningas-cogon act.
The cycle of raised awareness to security threats after bombing incidents and then lowering the guard weeks or months after is one weakness that terrorists are exploiting.
It’s a cycle everybody, whether government or the private sector, should break.
