Millions in RP pay respects to dead amid threats

Millions in RP pay respects to dead amid threats

Jason Gutierrez, Agence France-Presse, Manila

Philippine authorities were on full alert on Friday to thwart
possible terrorist attacks as millions of Filipinos trooped to
cemeteries to pay their respects for All Saints Day.

Military K-9 units and police ordnance experts screened
baggage at bus terminals and police confiscated sharp and pointed
objects that could be used as weapons at all cemeteries,
officials said.

The Marines and the military's elite strike units were
deployed to augment the 16,000-strong police force in
Metropolitan Manila, where 66 private and public cemeteries were
deemed possible targets.

Meanwhile, the Philippines assured the United States on Friday
authorities were prepared to thwart terrorist attacks as troops
and police were deployed to protect millions of Filipinos who
flocked to cemeteries to visit their dead for All Saints Day.

A U.S. advisory to its citizens in the Philippines warning
them of more terrorist attacks in upcoming weeks -- in particular
over the long weekend holiday -- may have been "exaggerated,"
presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said.

"The (national police) is doing everything to secure and
ensure that the citizenry is safe," Tiglao told reporters, as he
appealed to the U.S. embassy here to explain to the State
Department that Filipino forces "have been doing their jobs."

"We assure them that our police and intelligence services have
their systems in place to prevent such terrorist actions."

The heightened alert came after bomb attacks blamed on
terrorists killed 23 people in the southern Philippines and in
Manila this month.

"Among the things we should continue to fight for are unity,
peace, prosperity and safety from elements of terror that have no
place in our civilized society," President Gloria Arroyo said in
her All Saints Day address.

Arroyo had earlier assured the public they could visit their
dead and relax in malls without fear of terrorist attacks.

Authorities said 'high-value' terrorist targets over the long
weekend holiday could be cemeteries, bus terminals, malls and air
and sea ports.

National police chief Hermogenes Ebdane toured crowded
cemeteries to check on security precautions.

"So far as of now, we have not received any reports of
incidents. I hope it will stay that way," Ebdane said.

The military, meanwhile, said it had arrested a ranking member
of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who tried
to smuggle a powerful homemade bomb through a military checkpoint
in the southern Philippines earlier this week.

The suspect, Sulaiman Hashim, is known in rebel circles as Abu
Hashim and is believed to be an MILF officer in charge of
training fresh recruits in the south.

Recovered from Hashim was a powerful homemade bomb made from a
60-mm mortar shell wired to a timer and a blasting cap, local
army spokesman Major Julieto Ando said.

On Wednesday, an explosive device was set off at the compound
of a radio station in the town of Bongao in southern Tawi-Tawi
island province.

Military and police bomb squads later recovered two other
unexploded homemade devices planted at a multi-purpose hall in
the same area.