Sen. Ralph Recto said dealing with daily local threats — petty or organized — should be equally important, notwithstanding the global terror threat reaching the country’s shores.

“While the threat of global terror should not be ignored, equally important is to attend to the more realistic threats of petty and organized crimes and man-made chaos,” Recto said over radio station DZRH.

Petty crimes, Recto noted, are “on the rise” and the government needs to address the more ominous form of local threats which stokes fear in people on a daily basis in order to get the respect of other nations to prove one’s capability of facing threats on an international range.

“Petty crimes are on the rise so does the organized ones. It seems everyone we know has a relative or a friend that had fallen victim to petty thieves from cell phone snatching to random break-ins,” Recto said.

“We have chaotic streets, frat gangs lobbing grenades at each other, buses plunging into ravines and tourists being accosted not to be helped but mugged or assassinated,” he said.

“If we fail to address these daily home grown urban terror threats, I'm just afraid that we might have lost the momentum to participate in the big global fight against terrorism,” the senator warned.

The Japanese government issued a travel warning against the Philippines during the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) that Aquino also attended.

Though Japanese ambassador Makoto Katsura clarified that the advisory was merely a reminder for Japanese visitors to the Philippines, the Philippine government criticized the advisory.

Prior to these, six nations have also issued travel advisories against the Philippines purportedly due to threats of terrorism.

But Recto said the country was already on the brink of “terror frenzy” even before the actual threat of a terrorist attack became the new national distraction.

According to the senator, not a day goes by without someone’s vehicle being stolen at gunpoint or a precious life is taken via murder or recklessness on the streets and inside campuses.

He also noted that in the past weeks, carjacking syndicates preyed on victims with impunity, forcing many families to go “car-less” after their vehicles were taken at gun point.

In the past weeks, Recto also said the vehicles of a newspaper editor, a relative of top foreign affairs official, TV-movie personalities and ordinary “John Does” were lost to daring daylight car heists.

Recto pointed out that these incidents might be the reason for the Philippines ranking 97th among 169 countries in a survey on which countries offer a high quality of life for its citizens.

“A stable peace and order situation, a vigilant well-trained security force and a citizenry sure of their safety are the best defence against a deadly terror plot,” Recto said.

Hannah Torregoza, Manila Bulletin