"It was my vision to have anti-terrorism experts from peace-loving nations in the world to come together and decide on fresh approaches in the global campaign against terrorism," President Arroyo said in a statement read by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita during the opening ceremonies for the three-day conference.

Mrs. Arroyo urged the delegates to "keep terrorists at bay" and boost cooperation. She stressed they must also "find a middle way to address the socio-economic and political underpinnings of terrorism" to overcome its threats without compromising security or sacrificing life.

She said all economic, legal and diplomatic means should be used to effectively combat terrorism.

"For all their contrasting views, I hope that the delegates would find a common path, which lies between all the hard and soft approaches, and cuts across international, regional, sub-regional and local strategies," the President said.

The President’s statement also mentioned that the CTEC in Cebu is a fulfillment of the fearless pronouncement she made on Nov. 18, 2005 at the Asian Leaders’ Meeting with US President George Bush in Busan, South Korea that the Philippines will host the conference this year.

"There has to be a way of going beyond our current political and military and police responses to terrorism. To believe that we can win the war against terrorism by means of military and police action alone can be deceptive as it is deficient," the President said.

In facing terrorism, President Arroyo said that the universal principle of human rights, human dignity, civil liberties, due process, social development, and peaceful cooperation among peoples and nations must not be compromised in the fight against terrorism.

"Let this first CTEC be a means to arrive at a second medical opinion for the prescription of a new cure for terrorism," she said.

Attended by more than 500 delegates from at least 60 countries around the world, the first CTEC, carrying the theme, Defeating Dilemmas in Counter-Terrorism, seeks to identify difficulties in fighting terrorism in the global, regional, and national perspectives.

Ambassador Benjamin Defensor, chairman of the country’s Counter Terrorism Task Force, said the expected approval by Congress of the anti-terror bill would strengthen the fight against terrorism.

The key objective of the 1st CTEC is to come up with the Cebu Concord, a declaration exploring a realistic middle ground to counter terrorism, Defensor added.

The conference also aims to design strategies against terrorism that take into account sub-regional approaches, peculiar causes and conditions that will allow developing countries to strike a balance between receiving counter-terrorism assistance and protecting their cultures and religions.

According to the CTEC task force, the conference will follow the format that will feature two distinguished speakers for each plenary session. Selected experts are invited to moderate the panel discussions.

UN urges ASEAN to do more to stop terrorist funding

CEBU (AFP) — Southeast Asian governments must do more to stop crossborder funding for terrorist groups, an international anti-terrorism forum was told Thursday.

While most of these countries have put in place anti-money laundering measures and financial intelligence units following the September 11 attacks, there is slower progress in prosecuting those responsible, said Ellen Margrethe Loj, head of the UN Security Council’s committee on counter-terrorism.

Intelligence agencies in the region now have "appreciation of the ways in which funds from organized crime may be channeled to support terrorist organizations in a manner similar to that seen in other regions of the world," she said.

However, "progress has been much slower in relation to laws criminalising the financing of terrorism," with more than half the countries failing to enact such laws.

Fewer than half have ratified UN conventions on money-laundering, she added.

"Even once this is done, one of the key challenges in this area will be responding to the ways in which terrorist organizations find new, unregulated ways of channelling funds," Loj told the forum in this central Philippine city.

As financial institutions tighten their watch on suspect funds, terrorist groups could tap other means to move money, she said.