Western Police District (WPD) director Chief Supt. Pedro Bulaong, however, assured the public that Metro Manila remains safe from any terrorist attack.
"We are closely coordinating with our Muslim brothers in monitoring and stopping possible terror attacks in the city," Bulaong said. "In fact, the suspects were identified by our assets in the Muslim community."
The WPD chief also asked the public to be vigilant in reporting any suspicious-looking individuals within the city’s six districts, and help prevent any untoward incident.
The seven alleged MILF members are now undergoing tactical interrogation at the WPD headquarters in order to find out the MILF’s plans and "scope of operations," Bulaong said.
He noted that they are also coordinating with the military’s intelligence service and with the Philippine National Police brass to gather more information on the suspects’ activities.
The suspects — Alejandro Ignacio; Alfred Abay-Abay; Jimmy Salik, 27; Abdulbasit Malacaw; Romeo Romo, 39; Ricky Mendoza, 26; and Abdulwahid Mamuro, 48 — have been charged with several counts of illegal possession of explosives.
Malacaw is the group’s alleged leader.
Aside from the suspects’ alleged affiliation with the MILF, three of them have pending arrest warrants for murder, while two others were found to be evading their jail sentence.