Anti-terror task force keeps watch on foreigners in RP

Several foreigners in the country believed to be supporting local terrorists are closely being watched by authorities, President Arroyo said yesterday.

The President did not disclose their nationalities, but there have been reports in the past months that foreign members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror group have been training with local Muslim armed groups at rebel camps in parts of Mindanao.

Mrs. Arroyo said that while the arrest of six suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Islamic extremist group in recent weeks had stopped their terror plans, "some are still in hiding."

"We are closely watching foreigners in the country who may have taught them to make bombs, and who may have laundered money from the al-Qaeda and the JI into the pockets of local bombers," the President said in a statement.

"We have caught six in the dragnet in Metro Manila but some are still in hiding. We have intercepted their explosives cache but they may be shipping in more," she warned.

"Our fight against terrorists has been relentless. We have stopped their plans but they are adamant and persistent," the President said.

The country’s sea and airports, she assured, "are under 24-hour surveillance."

Police presented the other day the six recently arrested Abu Sayyaf suspects to the media and tagged them as part of a group allegedly on a mission to bomb 46 targets in the metropolis, including the embassies of the United States and Israel.

Without divulging details, Mrs. Arroyo said law enforcement authorities under the newly created Anti-Terrorism Task Force are keeping a close tab on several foreigners who are in the country under dubious circumstances.

The Abu Sayyaf, which for years have sporadically terrorized Mindanao and Metro Manila, publicly admitted their links with the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda of the elusive Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden and the Indonesia-based JI.

"Once we have it (evidence), they (terrorists) will be arrested and brought to justice," the Chief Executive said.

Earlier, the President designated Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita as head of the new Anti-Terrorism Task Force. Ermita will coordinate with the Philippines’ global coalition allies in the fight against terror, among other tasks.

"This is a universal fight for democracy and freedom. And no set of extremists shall hold hostage the democratic bond of nations," the President said.

"We shall respect diplomatic conventions and be circumspect in assessing our evidence," she said.

While the government has scored successes in its drive against terrorism, the President sought public vigilance against suspicious characters.

Her administration, however, is under fire from the Muslim community for allegedly having an anti-Islam bias in the crackdown against suspected terrorists.

Opposition critics have charged that the crackdown on supposed terrorists was motivated by Mrs. Arroyo’s wish to project an image of toughness ahead of the May 10 presidential elections.

Thousands of Muslims joined together the other day to denounce what they described as government harassment and repression of Muslim communities.

The President subsequently met with Muslim leaders apparently to calm them. In a statement issued earlier, she clarified there is "no hate campaign or witch-hunt directed against Muslims," but vowed to keep up the crusade against terrorism.

"The campaign will continue to be carried out without any ethnic or religious bias, and with only the enforcement of impartial justice in mind," she said.

Former hostages of the Abu Sayyaf identified as their captors four of the arrested Abu Sayyaf terrorists presented by police to the public.

Police accused the arrested men of planning to launch bombing attacks in Metro Manila after 80 pounds of TNT cache were seized from their hideouts in Fairview, Quezon City last March 29.

The President said the arrests averted what could have been "Madrid-level" bombings, referring to the March 11 bombing of commuter trains in the Spanish capital that claimed nearly 200 lives.

The suspects led by Alhamsar Manatad Limbong alias Hassan Sayyaf Kosovo were positively identified by their former kidnap victims as among those who held them hostage along with foreign nationals in the spate of kidnap-for-ransom incidents in Basilan and Sulu in 2000 and 2001.

"One by one, the witnesses in Basilan and Sulu are coming out and pointing to the evildoers," the President said. "Justice will catch up with the terrorists in the end."

Limbong was the one who allegedly beheaded US hostage Guillermo Sobero in June 2001.

US embassy spokesman Ron Post said Washington had sent a "provisional arrest warrant (as) the first step in the extradition process" of the suspect.

But Post stressed the Philippines still has first jurisdiction and that the request just put on record the US interest in prosecuting Limbong. — Marichu Villanueva, Christina Mendez