Philippine police places country under highest terror alert
The Philippines' police chief said Thursday the entire country has been placed on a high terror alert a day after two suspected members of a terrorist group were captured for allegedly attempting to bomb Manila last Monday.
Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said mobile random checkpoints are in place not only in Metro Manila but highly urbanized cities to thwart planned terror attacks.
Level 3 category means there is a high threat of terrorism as set by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
People should expect frequent and random searches on motorists under Oplan Sita, Dela Rosa said.
"They should expect some raids being conducted by our security forces on suspected terrorist personalities and lairs where these terrorists are hiding," Dela Rosa said in a news conference on Thursday.
In a statement, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said placing the Philippines under terror alert level 3 is consistent with declaring a state of national emergency or the declaration of state of lawless violence by President Rodrigo Duterte after the Davao bombing last September.
"We assure the public that there will be no disruption in their normal lives even if we have raised our security level in the same vein that there was no change in the way they live, work, or conduct business now that the country is under state of national emergency on the account of lawless violence," he said.
The military said they have not raised its alert level “because we are not in possession of any information that should tell us to do so,” said Brig. General Restituto Padilla, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Two suspected members of the Ansar al-Khilafah, a Mindanao-based terror organization which is connected to the Maute group and sympathizers of the Islamic State (ISIS) who left an improvised explosive device were captured in follow-up operations on Wednesday.
"Let's not be alarmed...Just stay alert. Be cautious but don't panic. Enjoy Christmas," he said.
The first is Jiaher Guinar, 30, a native of Marawi City, was apprehended at 2:35 am in Barangay Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. An eyewitness positively identified Guinar as the person who alighted from Toyota Revo and placed the bomb in a trash can, about 100 to 150 meters from the US Embassy. A caliber .45 pistol and a fragmentation grenade were recovered from his possession.
A cellphone suspected to be the detonating device was recovered from Guinar, who operates a mobile phone shop in Caloocan.
In another police operation in the province of Bulacan, another suspect identified as Rayson Kilala, also known as Rasid, was captured at 9:30 am in Barangay Bagong Bayan, Bulakan municipality.
He is an Imam and has been in Bulacan for some time.
During tactical interrogation, the duo admitted they belong to a group of five from Marawi City, Lanao del Sur who arrived on separate occasions.
Dela Rosa could not give a specific time frame of their arrival in Metro Manila except that some arrived only recently.
A manhunt is ongoing for the three suspects who, based on intelligence reports, returned to Marawi to help their comrades from the Maute group fighting security forces.
The bomb was transported using the Revo vehicle from Mindanao. To avoid detection at security checkpoints, the suspects covered the explosive with pillows.
The group's initial plan is to bomb Luneta Park in Manila Sunday evening. However, it fizzled out after the triggering device, a radio malfunctioned.
From Luneta, the suspects transferred to Roxas Boulevard. Kilala, according to Dela Rosa, decided to place the bomb at the trash bin.
"He (Kilala) said place the IED there to prevent more casualties as his conscience was bothering him," said Dela Rosa.
But the second attempt was a dud as the cellphone which they used did not work.
The group's motives are money and recognition from ISIS. "Their status as being allied with ISIS is hanging in the balance. They are being observed if they are really that good," said Dela Rosa.
The group also need funding from ISIS which has control to some oil wells in the Middle East. The other motive is to ease tension of punitive actions by the military against the Maute group in Butig town.
The suspects are facing cases for violatiing Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, Presidential Decree 18665 as amended by RA 9516, also the Illegal/Unlawful Possession of Explosives and Conspiracy to Commit Terrorism under RA 9352, or the Human Security Act.
Asked if the PNP provided lawyers for the suspects, Dela Rosa said "They should find their own lawyers...They wanted to kill innocent civilians and yet I will find lawyers to defend them?, " Emmanuel Tupas, Celerina Monte, Robina Asido/DMS
