Monday, October 03, 2005
Police placed on heightened alert
Associated Press with PNA, coutesy of Sun Star Times
MANILA --
National Police Director General Arturo Lomibao placed the 115,000-strong police force on "heightened alert" Sunday requiring at least half of the force to be on stand-by in camps, following the latest Bali attacks.
Intelligence gathering would be intensified and security in resorts frequented by foreigners would be further strengthened as a precaution, he said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo urged the public to help thwart attacks. "The new Bali attacks after the London attacks show the resiliency of terrorists to strike targets when our guard is down," she said in a statement.
Vigilance
Arroyo said the Philippines must keep its guard up and pass the anti-terrorism bill "to interdict terrorists quickly and isolate them from doing harm." The anti-terrorism measure has been pending since the 12th Congress.
"Our vigilance at the operational and community level is high and sustained," said Arroyo.
For months, intelligence officials had received information about a terrorist attack like the latest Bali bombing - but the plot's details were not uncovered in time to thwart it, security officials said Sunday.
Ric Blancaflor, executive director of a Philippine anti-terrorism task force, said Southeast Asia's intelligence community was aware that the al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group was orchestrating a major strike, possibly in the Philippines or Indonesia.
"The fact that there's going to be an attack was known to the intelligence community," Blancaflor said. "The problem always is how to get the exact details, like where."
Warning
Suicide bombers wearing explosive vests carried out attacks on three crowded restaurants on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Saturday night, killing at least 26 people and wounding more than a 100.
No one claimed responsibility but suspicion fell on the Southeast Asian group Jemaah Islamiyah, which officials also blamed for the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
A police intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his work, said Indonesia was warned by Western security officials of a possible attack before Saturday's deadly bombings. He didn't elaborate.
The official also said Jemaah Islamiyah has been trying to solicit funds from the Middle East to finance a major strike in the Philippines.
"The threat has not diminished," said Blancaflor.
Philippine security officials warned last month that at least two Jemaah Islamiyah would-be suicide bombers may have already slipped into the country to carry out an attack with the help of Abu Sayyaf Muslim militants.
