AFTER attacks in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday, President Benigno Aquino III reiterated on Friday that these is no credible and imminent threat of terror attacks in the Philippines.
“There is a general threat, yes. We are not immune to problems on extremism but all our agencies in law enforcement, in intel, are now focused on this problem and we are trying to thwart all potential problems,” Aquino said.
“Of course we have to be prudent and coordinate with the intelligence agency. And they have to guard the communities if there is a threat,” he added.
But while there are Filipinos on social media who have identified themselves as members of the terror group Islamic State (ISIS), these people never lived in the country, Aquino said.
“One was in Saudi Arabia and another in Lebanon but they have never lived in the Philippines,” Aquino said, during an interview with reporters in Malolos, Bulacan.
Shortly after the attacks in Jakarta on Thursday, Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the military “is now elevating alert levels to heightened alert in all areas to ensure a state of readiness should there be a need for it in case of certain contingencies.”
On the other hand, Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor said they are now on “full alert” after a series of explosions and gunfire tore through a Starbucks cafe in Jakarta and shook an embassy district.
Padilla said police and military forces continue to monitor the “usual threats from local terrorist groups, such as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Abu Sayyaf Group.”
The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for many of the deadliest bombings in the country, as well as the BIFF, have pledged allegiance to Islamic State fighters or ISIS. The military, however, has dismissed this as “propaganda.”
Padilla described the video supposedly proving the Abu Sayyaf’s alliance with ISIS as an outdated publicity stunt released this week to capitalize on the Indonesian bombings.