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ISABELA (Philippines): Nearly 60 years ago, people living on the largely Muslim island of Basilan in the southern Philippines hailed US troops as liberators for driving out Japanese occupiers.
But US troops may not find such a warm welcome in store when they return to the embattled island later in February to join military exercises to tackle Muslim guerrillas that Washington says have links with Osama bin Laden.
Most Christian residents on Basilan interviewed seemed to regard the Americans as messiahs. A few exceptions aside, Muslims were wary of the US troops conducting the new phase of the US “war on terror”.
Christian businessman Bienvenido Tan will cheer. A staunch US supporter, the seventy-year-old says he may well march in the streets waving the Stars and Stripes.
But jewellery shop owner Hja Sheng, a Muslim, won’t be there.
“What will become of us? Another Afghanistan?” Sheng asked.
A decision by the Philippines to allow US Special Forces to train local troops and join them on patrols in the Basilan jungles against Abu Sayyaf rebels has provoked bitter debate across the mainly Roman Catholic country.
Critics argue the military exercises are a cover-up to allow US troops into the former US colony in a combat role, which would be prohibited by the constitution.
Manila insists the US troops will be in the country for a limited period and will not engage in combat.
The target of the campaign, the Abu Sayyaf, has been a thorn in the side of the government for several years.
STRIKING TERROR: Professing to be fighting for an Islamic state in the mostly Muslim south, the rebels have earned millions of dollars in ransom since kidnapping 21 tourists from a Malaysian holiday resort in 2000.
Basilan, 900 kms south of Manila and three times the size of Singapore, has a largely Muslim population of 300,000 although only five percent of the country’s 76 million people follow Islam.
In Isabela, Basilan’s provincial capital and home to about 50,000 Christians and 30,000 Muslims, the controversy can rouse passion.
END TO TORMENT: The deployment of about 160 US troops to the jungles of Basilan, the Abu Sayyaf’s stronghold, would mark a significant expansion of America’s anti-terror campaign after Afghanistan.
Officially, the Americans will only train Filipinos and not engage in combat. But they can fire if attacked.
That is what worries jeweller Sheng.
“If something happens to the Americans and they retaliate, there’s going to be war. They might also bomb Basilan,” Sheng said. “Then we will all suffer.”
But Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar says 80 per cent of Basilan supports the coming of US troops.—Reuters
