Needing To Get Tougher on Terror

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The bombings have given new urgency to the government's drive to pass a controversial antiterrorism law. "Terror never sleeps," Arroyo told legislators after the Jolo attack, calling for measures to "rid our country and the world of this grave threat." The law would allow authorities to detain terror suspects for up to 18 days without charges. (Currently, police are required to release uncharged suspects within 36 hours.) Despite pressure from the U.S., the Philippines is the only Southeast Asian nation without such a law. But Arroyo's already-besieged government may have difficulty overcoming opposition from human-rights activists, who worry the police will use the measure to curtail suspects' civil rights. Other skeptics suggest that the government's plan may miss the point by failing to address the origins of discontent. "As long as the Jolo natives keep on wallowing in poverty, terrorism will continue to thrive," says Asiri Abubakar, a professor at the University of the Philippines' Asian Center. "We may never see an end to these bombings."

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