SEN. Joker Arroyo described the recent rape case — in which five US soldiers have been accused of raping a Filipino woman in a van as "US Sexual Terrorism." If that criminal act is within the concept of terrorism, the US should be the first country, among those which have committed to fight against world terrorism, to take the initiative of imposing the appropriate punishment on those soldiers if they are found guilty as accused. Without any punishment for that incident, it would give a wrong impression to terrorists that they could commit a terrorist act, not by bombing and shooting, but also raping people to be terrorized to pursuit their objectives. Including rape as sexual terrorism is a worse precedent.
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It is really a confusion who are telling the truth among those involved in the case of a fugitive Muslim militant accused by the military of planning bomb attacks in the country. The accused militant, Tyrone Santos — a Muslim convert also known as "Dawud" — said through a radio station that he was ready to face the charge of non-bailable charge of rebellion against him when the government files the charge, and also saying that he was not hiding as he had no reason to hide. In fact, he claimed he was able to post bail on the charge, but the military said that he subsequently went into hiding. What’s strange is why Brig. Gen. Marlu Quevedo, AFP Chief of the Intelligence Services, refused to comment on Santos’ claim that he did not jump bail nor is he in hiding. Is this just "moromoro?"
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It must be the time now for National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to disclose the full details of the controversial Venable LLP contract, as he said he would, to enlighten the Senate. The national security issues that he and Malacañang refused to be divulged to the Senate during that time, might have been resolved by now, and the risks attendant to those issues have already been neutralized. Otherwise, why should the controversial lobby contract be kept in secret? If the reason behind the opposition and other antiGloria groups in objecting the Venable contract for the Bobby in behalf of our government, was only a matter of contract fee, why didn’t Gonzales reveal the Venable details then and wait for the 2006 budget to cover it. Clearly, it was all for national security.
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It is good news that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) committed to help our National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in improving its forensic capability to fight terrorism and crime scene investigation. This training is to match or NBI’s forensic capability to that of the FBI. Aside from improving those capabilities for the NBI, the FBI will also help upgrade NBI forensic equipment and training. By now, the NBI has long lagged behind Asian counterparts in crime scene investigation. For instance, the use of fiber strand taken from a cloth used by the suspect, training the agents regarding microscopic analysis, post blast investigation, footprint, and tire marks, etc., But all those will be to naught unless the law of evidence must also be effectively trained by them.
