National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia said the danger of retaliatory attacks for the killing of Osama bin Laden is high in four regions in Mindanao and only moderate in Metro Manila.
Garcia said the threat level is “assessed to be at high level" in Regions 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), 11 (the Davao Region), and 12 (SOCCSKARGEN) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). He gave this assessment at the meeting of the Cabinet security cluster at the Presidential Situation Room on Wednesday.
Garcia explained that it is in these areas in Mindanao where groups affiliated with al Qaeda such as the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Jemaah Islamiyah “can quickly mount, without much preparation, attacks against targets of opportunity."
He said the terrorist threat level in Metro Manila remains “at moderate level," because although retaliatory attacks cannot be discounted, the armed services and intelligence community “have not monitored any specific threat of immediate nature of an attack on Metro Manila."
But he said it is prudent for the government to upgrade the security of critical infrastructure and other likely targets such as embassies of countries active in the global war against terror, five-star hotels, tourist destinations, ports of entry, transportation hubs, shopping malls, and churches.
To prevent the Abu Sayyaf from mounting attacks in Metro Manila, Garcia said the intelligence community is focusing its efforts on neutralizing high value targets inside terrorist groups. He said the fund of local terrorist groups no longer come from the al Qaeda, but from kidnapping and extortion. — ELR/VS, GMA News
