Security threats

This is no joke: an embassy has warned its citizens against taking public buses in the Philippines.

The warning was issued not because of last Tuesday’s deadly bus bombing over a kilometer away from the home of the embassy’s ambassador, or the bloody hostage incident in Rizal Park on Aug. 23 last year.

What worried the embassy was the string of deadly accidents all over the country since last year wherein buses lost their brakes or the drivers fell asleep at the wheel, and the vehicles either flew off a cliff into a deep ravine, figured in a head-on collision or smashed into a wall.

Most foreign diplomats and investors I have talked to believe the bus bombing on EDSA was an isolated case. Some diplomats noted that unlike the hostage fiasco, the EDSA attack did not specifically target foreigners.

As of Wednesday night, the embassies that had issued or revised their travel advisories on the Philippines last year amid an unspecified terrorist threat were still assessing whether they should update their advisories again as a result of the bus bombing.

Their common concern was the government’s response to the bombing. They are waiting for the arrest of the perpetrators (and no fall guys, please), plus measures to improve land transportation safety.

Those concerns are shared by Filipinos and must be urgently addressed by the government.

Security officials should be able to quickly dispel the macabre Pinoy joke of the week – that people should avoid riding buses during P-Noy’s watch.

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At the Australian National Day reception, which was held at the Ayala Museum the other night, guests told me they weren’t worried about their personal safety in Metro Manila despite the bombing.

Among several governments, the Aussies issued the strongest travel advisory to their citizens last year, warning of the threat of a terrorist attack in Metro Manila and other parts of the Philippines.

Apart from bombings, the threat reportedly included assassination plots against two ambassadors.

P-Noy blew his top over the travel advisories but focused his ire on the Americans, believing that the alerts were meant to pressure him against a planned review of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries. He also fumed that the advisories could sabotage the upcoming formal launch of the public-private partnership or PPP program. When he visited Japan for the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, investors asked him about the travel warnings and the issue irked him again.

In Manila I didn’t hear investors fretting about any terrorist threat, which after all bedevils all countries these days. What some investors groused about was the PPP participation fee of nearly $2,000.

Several foreign diplomats also considered it a preposterous suggestion that they would issue travel warnings to their citizens simply to please Uncle Sam and meddle in other countries’ bilateral agreements.

Some diplomats told me it looked like P-Noy’s security officials had been sleeping on the job and had not told him about the intel on which the advisories were based, and which the diplomats stressed had been shared with Philippine authorities.

As of Wednesday night, the Australians were still assessing the nature of the EDSA bus bombing, according to Ambassador Rod Smith. UK Ambassador Stephen Lillie, whose government made the mildest revision to its travel advisory last year, said the same thing.

A British guest told me it was business as usual for them. If you succumb to fear, the terrorists have won, he said.

The Brits are of course no strangers to terrorism, having confronted the Irish Republican Army for decades. The Koreans, living within striking distance of the missiles of the North’s Kim Jong-il, are also unperturbed by terrorist threats or bus bombings in Manila.

What Korean Ambassador Lee Hye-min complained about many months ago to the Philippine National Police was not any terrorist threat but the carjackers operating along C-5 and the NAIA. The gangs have victimized a number of Koreans.

Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura is also more concerned about the overall peace and order situation, although he emphasized that he personally felt safe here. He clarified that their embassy’s travel advisories were meant merely for Japanese citizens who are already in the Philippines; they have never warned their citizens in Japan not to travel to the Philippines.

Several guests at the Aussie reception, Filipinos and foreigners alike, said they were more worried about their cars parked outside, where chef Gaita Fores lost her Land Cruiser to armed men recently. But the street and surrounding areas were crawling with cops during the reception.

Such concerns are heightened by reports that accused carjacking ringleader Raymond Dominguez and his brother Roger enjoyed the protection of cops led by Superintendent Napoleon Cauyan.

The police officer yesterday denied the allegation. In 2006 he was relieved as regional commander of the Highway Patrol Group in Central Luzon. Cauyan is now assigned at the holding center at Camp Crame.

Investigators have said the EDSA bus explosion was caused by a rigged mortar bomb set off with a cell phone. How many people have access to mortar bombs and have the capability to rig it?

While investigators are eyeing Islamic extremists, who have used such bombs in the past, suspicion is also focusing on military or police elements.

The best way to put public fears to rest is to catch the bombers quickly and bring them to justice.

Terrorism is a global threat, and criminality is a problem everywhere. Countries differ only in the way they deal with their security problems.

P-Noy need not fume over travel advisories. If the state can keep its citizens safe, all foreign guests will also feel secure.