For the first time, the Philippines is confronting a spate of suicide bombings, which have rocked the country's Muslim-majority southern provinces. They have come almost two years after the government liberated the city of Marawi from the Islamic extremist groups which had laid siege to it.
But instead of panicking and embracing more authoritarian measures, the authorities have to enhance existing counterterrorism measures and cooperate more with like-minded allies without undermining civil liberties and political rights.
