Terrorists Target IGaCoS?

First and foremost, this is an old article that I’m referencing. Almost 9-10 months ago. Funny thing though, we were in Davao & IGaCoS about 30 days after this, and we never heard anything about it.

I also want to state that I do feel that Davao as whole is very safe, and Samal Island even more so because of it’s isolation. Just goes to show you that this kind of thing can potentially happen anywhere. The influx of foreigners in the area gives more attention to the act, at least I suppose that’s the reasoning behind it.

Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS) Mayor Aniano Antalan had ordered tight security in the island city’s famous beach resorts, following military information that IGACOS would have been the target of an Indonesian national, said to be a Jemaah Islamiyah bomber, arrested on Saturday in Davao Oriental.

Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian cell of the international terrorist group al-Qaeda, is said to be behind the spare of bomb attacks in Mindanao.

My friend Bob Martin on his excellent web magazine, Live in the Philippines, wrote an artilce a little while back about the different so called terrorists groups in the Philippines. Other than one, most of these are more of the local militant group or rebel category, in my opinion. The article I’m referencing would fall more into the terrorist category, again in my opinion, as the main purpose seems to be targeting foreigners. Though there is a tie-in with the MILF, as the suspect was apprehended at the home of a reported member of the MILF.

In this particular case the potential bomber was caught before he was able to take action, thanks to the intelligence work done by miltary in Davao. This is the first time I had heard of any such activity involving IGaCoS. Let’s hope it was just an isolated instance.

Reference article: DAVAO TOP TOURIST SPOT TARGET OF TERROR ATTACK – By ROGER M. BALANZA