Anti-terror screening to delay Christmas mail

Filipinos may end up getting their Christmas mail three months late due to stringent inspections made necessary by the threat of global terrorism, postal officials said yesterday.

"We are carefully scrutinizing each package to make sure that there would be no letter bombs or other terrorist packages," said a senior official of the Philippine Postal Corp.

A Protestant pastor’s 12 year-old daughter was killed in the northern town of Santa Cruz late Monday when she opened a letter bomb, provincial vice governor Gerry Singson told dzMM radio earlier Tuesday.

The pastor and two of his children were also wounded in the blast.

The postal official, who asked not to be named, said each package was being subjected to a "nose" test by bomb-sniffing dogs, and sought the public’s patience and understanding if Christmas presents arrive in March instead.

"Even those that were sent in September, the packages could still be delayed both for local and foreign parcels and packages," he added. – AFP