Manila to raise antiterrorism front at ASEAN summit<\/p>\n
MANILA (Agencies): Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said on
\nFriday she would push for the creation of a regional anti-
\nterrorist front at the annual meeting of Southeast Asian leaders
\nin November.<\/p>\n
The Philippines put forward the idea as Washington called for
\na global war against terrorists suspected to be behind the terror
\nattacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last week.<\/p>\n
Vice President Teofisto Guingona, also the Philippines foreign
\nminister, has "already started to sound out the other two" on
\nsetting up a regional anti-terrorism coalition, Arroyo said,
\nreferring to Indonesia and Malaysia.<\/p>\n
"In the course of sounding out, there was an idea that arose
\nthat it might even graduate into a major agenda item in the next
\nASEAN summit," Arroyo told a news conference.<\/p>\n
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders next
\nmeet in Brunei on Nov. 5-6. They grouping also includes Cambodia,
\nLaos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday said it was awaiting further details
\non the proposal, noting that nothing official had been
\ntransmitted by Manila.<\/p>\n
The neighbors face growing rebellions by Muslim separatists
\nbelieved to be slowly linking up with each other.<\/p>\n
The urgency of setting up a coalition was underscored by
\nMalaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad last month when he warned that
\na Malaysian-based group of Islamic radicals had forged links with
\nPhilippine and Indonesian separatists.<\/p>\n
Retired general Eduardo Ermita, a security adviser to
\nPresident Arroyo, has also said that Indonesian authorities have
\nalerted Manila to firearms being smuggled by Filipino rebels to
\nIslamic separatists in Indonesia's Aceh province.<\/p>\n
"In all probability" the guns could have been provided by the
\nAbu Sayyaf group, a small group of self-style Islamic freedom
\nfighters holding hostage 18 US and Filipino hostages in the
\nsouth, he said.<\/p>\n
Philippine officials say the Abu Sayyaf once received aid from
\nSaudi dissident Osama bin Laden, wanted by the U.S. dead or alive
\nfor the September 11 attacks.<\/p>\n
Manila backs U.S. President George W. Bush's call for a global
\nwar against terrorists, with Arroyo earlier offering the use of
\nthe country's airports for refueling or transshipment points for
\nU.S. forces.<\/p>\n
Military sources here said three U.S. F-18 fighter jets from
\nthe U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan landed at the Mactan
\nInternational Airport in central Cebu city on Friday for
\nrefueling. They stayed only 30 minutes before leaving on an
\nunspecified mission.<\/p>\n
The Philippines is expected to offer the United States the use
\nof its old bases in the Philippines as U.S. forces prepare for
\npossible military action in the wake of last week's attacks in
\nthe United States.<\/p>\n
Philippine National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said on
\nFriday the government was not considering sending Philippine
\ntroops to help U.S. forces but it was expected to offer the
\nUnited States the use of Clark air base and Subic Bay naval base.<\/p>\n
The United States has provided the Philippines a list of about
\n180 suspected terrorists as part of a worldwide alert,
\nimmigration chief Andrea Domingo said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Domingo said those on the list are "mostly Middle Eastern" and
\nthe names were given to Philippine authorities over a period of
\ntime.<\/p>\n
"When they have additional information, they share with their
\nallies so that we can help each other," she said. "We are
\ncooperating with them because we are allies."<\/p>\n
Domingo said the immigration bureau is checking the list
\nagainst immigration documents, including arrival and departure
\nfiles, deportation records and lists of foreigners enrolled in
\nlocal aviation schools.<\/p>\n
"We don't want to harass them. What we are doing now is we are
\njust appreciating the documents that are now with us," she said.<\/p>\n
"The new thing here is that all our people are now alerted and
\nthey are asked to coordinate with the communities where they work
\nto get as much information as they can on anything that might
\nlead to the discovery of any terrorist or terroristic attacks,"
\nshe added.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Air Transportation Office chief Adelberto Yap
\nsaid FBI investigators went to his office to scrutinize lists of
\nforeigners who are studying or have graduated from Philippine
\naviation schools.<\/p>\n
An initial comparison with an FBI list of names showed "a lot
\nof similarities" although more verification was needed because
\nsome may have used aliases, he said. Most were from the Middle
\nEast.<\/p>",
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