FBI offers to help PNP in terror drive

A top official of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has offered assistance and training to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in its anti-crime and anti-terror campaigns.

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole held a closed-door meeting with PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao and other senior police officials during which he was briefed on the government’s efforts to combat al-Qaeda-linked terror groups, the Muslim insurgency and an alleged emerging alliance between communist and military rebels.

"He (Pistole) expressed full satisfaction with the gains we have been making in the fight against crime and terrorism and offered the FBI’s full assistance, particularly in terms of training and the granting of modern crime-fighting tools," he said.

Lomibao, however, refused to elaborate on the security briefing for Pistole.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said the one-hour private conference focused on anti-terrorism efforts, peace and order and transnational crimes.

Pagdilao said the meeting also focused on the effect of transnational crimes to the region’s economy and discussed ways on how to address the problem.

Pistole and Lomibao also agreed to enhance exchange of intelligence information on all issues pertaining to terrorism and transnational crimes.

Pistole also assured Lomibao that the US continued to support efforts to address the terrorism problem in the country and in the region.

"He (Pistole) pledged his government’s support in addressing the country’s terrorism problem," Pagdilao said.

US Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop, on the other hand, said Pistole arrived late Friday and was leaving Manila later yesterday as part of a tour of several countries in the region.

Lussenhop said Pistole also was scheduled to meet officials of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) "to touch base with them and discuss some of the issues in law enforcement and counterterrorism cooperation that’s going on between the US and the Philippines.

"He was doing a regional trip to Asia and he stopped briefly in the Philippines to meet with his counterparts in the Philippine law enforcement agencies," Lussenhop said.

NBI acting director Nestor Mantaring said the bureau would create within the month a new operations unit dedicated to combating terrorist activities.

Mantaring said they had been planning to form an anti-terrorism division (ATD).

"We need to strengthen our anti-terrorism efforts. We all know that terrorism is a worldwide problem," he said.

Mantaring clarified that the plan had nothing to do with the visit of Pistole.

The FBI deputy director made the visit at the NBI head office in Manila with Special Assistant Nathan Grey and Counter-Terrorism Division chief Donald Vanduyn.

Mantaring said the two-hour visit included discussions on the NBI’s organizational setup.

An NBI official confirmed the ATD had been in the works since last year, pointing out the bureau would pursue the plan, patterned after the PNP’s anti-terrorism task force.

He said the NBI would rename the General Intelligence and Investigation Division (GIID) and transform its functions to the ATD.

The official added the US and Australia had long urged the NBI to create its own ATD. In return, the two countries reportedly promised to provide training programs and equipment.

"Terrorism is the crime of the future and (efforts against) it would be backed up by the US," the NBI official said.

PNP Crime Laboratory director Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, on the other hand, said they have submitted a "wish list" to Pistole that includes modern forensic equipment to handle chemical, biological and nuclear incidents, DNA analysis and drug detection, and personnel training.

Belen said there was no immediate commitment from the FBI to provide specific equipment, but Pistole promised training in hair, fiber and document analysis.

Pistole’s visit came amid published reports tagging the Philippines as one of the remaining havens of foreign and local terrorists in the region, particularly Mindanao, where Muslim extremists belonging to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) led by Dulmatin and Umar Patek are reportedly hiding.

Intelligence reports said the JI militants have been given refuge by Abu Sayyaf bandits in the dense jungles of Mindanao.

Washington has listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization and offered as much as $5 million in bounty for the group’s top leaders.

The US has also put up a huge reward for the capture of the two JI militants wanted for the bombing of the island resort of Bali, Indonesia in October 2002 in which over 200 tourists were killed and scores of others wounded. — With Pia Lee-Brago, Evelyn Macairan, AP