Davao City is no place for terrorists

Davao City is no place for terrorists | Daily Tribune

As the Christmas season fades and families return to ordinary routines, the message from Davao City remains clear: those who seek to sow fear will find no refuge here.

The fatal mistake of ISIS-linked terrorists Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed Akram, was attempting to establish a cell or create chaos in Davao City. Long before Christmas lights lined its streets, the city had already endured some of the most vicious terror attacks in the country, before and during the term of Rodrigo R. Duterte as mayor. Foreign, jihadist-inspired assaults once targeted cathedrals, buses and airport and seaport terminals, compounded by the secessionist conflict led at the time by MNLF chieftain Nur Misuari.

Davao’s large Muslim communities, who have long lived peacefully alongside other tribal groups and the Christian majority, rejected extremist Islamist violence. They, too, were victims of terrorism that disrupted livelihoods thriving in the city. Muslim traders built organized shops in what was then known as the Aldevinco Shopping Center, drawing local and foreign tourists seeking authentic goods ranging from dresses to metal crafts and cultural artifacts.

When Duterte assumed leadership of the city, he inherited a complex set of challenges: the CPP-NPA, which had turned Davao into a so-called killing field, the entry of drug syndicates, and terrorism, then labeled as “new crime.”

One of his first moves was to meet with Prof. Nur Misuari at City Hall. The discussion was cordial and grounded in trust, resulting in an unwritten partnership to curb criminality and terrorism in Davao.

He later went into the hinterlands to hold talks with NPA commander Leoncio Pitao, known as Commander Parago, primarily to negotiate the release of police and military officers held captive.

Duterte then built an intelligence network. With retired Col. Yusof Jimlani, he created what they called “tripping points” in porous areas of the city, including coastal and remote barangays near provincial boundaries. These were largely composed of Muslim families along the coastlines and indigenous communities in ancestral domains, tasked with monitoring unfamiliar movements and promptly reporting them to the intelligence operations center.

To address local crime, Duterte established the 911 Emergency Response Team. Aside from trained medical personnel, the system, the first of its kind in the country and among the earliest globally, was equipped with fire trucks, ambulances, police vehicles, and a network of high-definition CCTV cameras across the city.

On the legislative front, tribal communities were given representation in the city council, and each district was assigned a deputy appointed by the mayor.

Against this backdrop, terrorist groups and criminal syndicates find Davao City too hostile for their schemes. This was precisely what Sajid Akram and his son encountered.

A similar case involved a Malaysian-based Jemaah Islamiyah member, Mohd Noor Fikrie bin Abud Kahar, who attempted to detonate a homemade explosive at People’s Park. His movements were detected by a tripping point within a nearby Muslim community. Police operatives were immediately deployed to the hotel where he and his Filipina wife were staying.

In the ensuing operation, he was fatally shot by a Davao City Police teamled at the time by Col. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, now a senator.

Davao City has invested heavily in sustaining peace and order.

When Sen. Risa Hontiveros once questioned the city’s spending on confidential and intelligence funds, she overlooked the reality that Davao City is more than three times the size of Metro Manila.

As the country moves past Christmas and into the new year, Davao’s experience underscores a simple truth: peace is not seasonal. It is built patiently, defended daily, and guarded fiercely against those who would try to shatter it.