Ramos cancels trip to troubled area

Ramos cancels trip to troubled area

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (DPA): Philippine President Fidel
Ramos canceled a visit to a southern island yesterday after
extremists threatened to disrupt his arrival and bomb an oil
depot.

Tight security had been put in place in Basilan province, some
900 kilometers south of Manila, to thwart any acts of sabotage
during Ramos' scheduled cabinet meeting in the capital of Isabela
today.

Press Secretary Hector Villaneuva confirmed the visit was
scrapped but denied the threats were the reason. He said the trip
to the province was merely postponed until February.

Senior Police Superintendent Resurreccion Miravite said the
Abu Sayyaf group threatened to disrupt Ramos' arrival and bomb
the Caltex depot, the major supplier of gasoline and diesel fuel
to Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf was seeking to retaliate for the refusal of
Caltex management to pay 20,000 pesos ($454) per month in
"revolutionary taxes," Miravite said.