RP beef up security around U.S. facilities

RP beef up security around U.S. facilities

MANILA (AP): Police stepped up security around the U.S. Embassy and other American facilities in the Philippines on Thursday to prevent retaliatory terrorist attacks after Washington ordered missile strikes on Iraq.

"All U.S. installations have been adequately secured even before the attack but still, we will beef up security," said national police chief Roberto Lastimoso.

President Joseph Estrada, who is on a state visit to Vietnam, was quoted by the presidential palace as saying that the use of force against Iraq was "very unfortunate" and expressed hope that the crisis can be settled "immediately to save the lives of people."

Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon, who is traveling with Estrada, said, "We regret the use of force in Iraq."

"We have always believed that disputes should be settled through peaceful means and through negotiations," he said. "At the same time we believe that all UN resolutions should be complied with."

Lastimoso said the action by the police was taken without a request for additional security from U.S. embassy authorities. He said local terrorists with links to Iraq are likely to attack U.S. facilities after President Bill Clinton ordered air strikes on targets suspected of concealing key elements of Iraq's biological and chemical weapons program.

Lastimoso said local terrorists have attacked U.S. targets in the country since the height of the Gulf War in 1991. During that time, two Iraqi agents in Manila tried to bomb the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center in suburban Makati City, but the bomb they carried exploded prematurely, killing one of them.

Security around the embassy has been raised since August, following the bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya by suspected followers of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.

Aside from its embassy, the United States also maintains a large residential seaside compound in Manila and a consulate in central Cebu City.

Additional security will also be posted at the embassies of Britain and Israel, Lastimoso said.

He did not say if there was reason to believe the facilities were in immediate danger.

He said the local extremist group, Abu Sayyaf, is believed to be involved in bin Laden's network.