Terror alert raised in MM, lowered down in Central Mindanao

By Ronron
July 10, 2007

The anti-terrorism agency of the government has raised the terrorism threat level in Metro Manila to “moderate,” and lowered to “high” the level for Central Mindanao, the national police spokesman said Tuesday.

Quoting the Anti-Terrorism Task Force (ATTF), Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao, Jr. said in a statement that the present terror threat level is due to the upcoming events in the capital later this month, and the relatively peaceful situation in the south.

A Moderate Terror Threat level means a terrorist attack is possible but not likely to happen. A High level indicates a strong possibility of a terrorist attack within a period of time.

The four-tiered alert level begins with Low (or normal), followed by Moderate, then High, and finally Extreme. But the highest level is further subdivided into two – Severe, which means a terrorist attack is highly likely; and Critical, which means a terrorist attack has occurred, or has just been preempted, and follow-on attacks are expected.

Prior to the current level, Metro Manila was just on Low Terror Level, and Central Mindanao was on Extreme-Critical.

Pagdilao said PNP chief Gen. Oscar Calderon ordered the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) to “beef up their security and intelligence operations… in the wake of a high level of terrorist threat this July generated by the incoming State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Ministerial Meeting.”

The SONA will be held on July 23, while the AMM will go full-swing on the 28th.

Despite being on Moderate Terrorism Threat, police in Metro Manila are advised by the ATTF to implement high level of security as the two “events might serve as magnets for terrorists to stage daring attacks to capitalize the tensions it will cause to politics and security,” said Pagdilao.

Pagdilao said NCRPO chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Varilla was specifically ordered to double security efforts in the vicinity of Malacañang Palace in Manila City, the surrounding areas of Batasan in Quezon City, and the venue of the AMM in Pasay City.

This is “to prevent any form of destabilization activity that may coincide with various protest actions that the militant sector will launch,” Pagdilao said.

Pagdilao said Calderon is also asking the public to give their share in securing the community.

A task force, consisting of some 6,000 personnel, was already created by the PNP for the ASEAN meeting but its full operation will still commence later this month.

For Central Mindanao, Calderon said the people there, especially the police, should remain vigilant despite the lowering of the threat level from Extreme to High, citing the ATTF’s warning of possible terror attacks.

“The ATTF has reduced the threat level, particularly in Central Mindanao, after it was revealed that the recent incidents of bombings were perpetrated by criminal groups trying to be like terrorists in order to extort money from the owners of public utility buses plying the region,” Pagdilao said, referring to the series of bus bombings that began last May.

“Gen. Calderon said police personnel in Mindanao must remain vigilant after the ATTF said it is not discounting the possibility that terrorists may have a hand in the recent bomb attacks since it was observed in the past that Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) foot soldiers exploit bombing plots to extort money from targeted commercial establishments,” Pagdilao said.

Quoting the ATTF, Pagdilao disclosed that the ASG, under the reported new leadership of Yasser Igasan, is consolidating its forces in Sulu “to carry out kidnapping for ransom activities to arrest their dwindling funds.”

Central Mindanao-based foreign jihadist Zulkilpi Bin Hir, alias Marwan, who is the prime suspect in the recent successive bombings in Mindanao, has also joined the ASG in Sulu, particularly those under the command of Isnilon Hapilon, said Pagdilao.

“The relocation of Marwan to Sulu is being attributed by the ATTF to the government’s pressure on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leadership to expel terrorist in their area to show their sincerity to the peace negotiation,” Pagdilao said, referring to the May 2002 Joint Communique of the GRP and the MILF./DMS