While the Resorts World Manila attack may not be terrorist violence, last Saturday’s attacks at London Bridge that killed six people and three assailants have alarmed citizens around the world and gave governments pause to ponder on whether or not to impose more stringent security measures.
Among the leaders who voiced condemnation of the London attack was US President Donald Trump whose tweets revolved around justifying his travel ban order on six countries suspected of involvement in terrorism.
All of them are Muslim countries, and President Trump’s insistence to ban people coming from those countries have been roundly condemned by most Americans especially the liberals in Hollywood, the Democrats and the left-wing civil rights groups.
But Mr. Trump, based on his tweets, isn’t about to back out even after the Supreme Court ruled against it. “We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!” he tweeted.
In calling for the reimposition of the travel ban, Trump said the US “must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people.” “If we don’t get smart it will only get worse,” he said.
Even with two attacks happening just days apart, there is still no word on whether the British government will impose martial law, let alone a state of emergency throughout the country though it happened in their cities.
We also don’t have word on whether First World countries like the US and those in the European Union and in Asia will issue travel advisories to their citizens like those travel advisories issued against the Philippines of which southern Cebu towns have been identified as a safety risk.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who earlier raised the possibility of suspending the writ of habeas corpus, may or may not declare martial law in the Visayas, but photos of the Maute terror group responsible for the siege in Marawi City had been circulated about, raising concerns that they may find their way to Cebu and neighboring provinces.
The specter of martial law aside, it is up to the communities — especially the Muslim residents who made their home in Cebu and were often cited as being more than willing to cooperate with authorities in monitoring terror threats — to step up on their vigilance and crack down on these terrorists.
Last month’s Bohol misadventure by the bandit group Abu Sayyaf, who are said to be aligned with the Maute Group and by extension the terrorist group Islamic State (IS), have shown how a vigilant citizenry armed only with courage and a willingness to expose and report terrorists have managed not only to turn them back but enabled the police and the military to finish them off and even stop a top police official from aiding them.