Ten years ago

ADECADE ago, an American diplomat made foreboding pronouncements about our future, which all but ruined my week-end. If memory serves, he was Joseph Mussomeli, then chargé d’ affaires of the USA embassy. Interviewed by SBS-TV Australia, he declared that Mindanao was the new mecca of terrorism because “the links that bind the Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf with a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are getting stronger.” He described the terrorist threat as long–term, warned that portions of Mindanao are “lawless,” that borders are “so porous,” and that Saudi nationals are “constant visitors.” More unsettling was Mussomeli’s oracle about Mindanao being the next Afghanistan.

In addition, Mr. Mussomeli said that then President Gloria Arroyo could not attend to this historical problem because she was more concerned about a fiscal crisis, chronic deficiencies in the education sector, insufficient tax collection, etc. ( Eventually, there was “Ancestral Domain,” declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.) In that interview, the diplomat emphasized that his assessment of Mindanao was purely personal,

Looking back, the USA had not quite recovered from the 9/11 bombing so Mindanao was on the radar. I remember having breakfast with friends, we asked each other whether the loss of Mindanao was imminent and irreversible and if the USA regretted closing military and naval bases in Europe and Asia due to austerity measures. Well, they did construct a world-class airport in General Santos City; there were scattered news reports, through the years, about American ships docking in the Davao Gulf, an excellent cove, perhaps more strategically valuable now than what Subic Bay was during the Vietnam War.

The Balikatan military exercises were first launched in Mindanao because of the Abu Sayyaf threat. Ironically, ten years after Mussomeli’s horrific assessment, the BBL threatens. (ggc1898@gmail.com)