RP vows to tackle terrorist threat

RP vows to tackle terrorist threat

MANILA (AFP): The Philippine government vowed yesterday to "stamp out terrorism" and placed peace talks with Moslem autonomy groups under review as it set out to crush Islamic extremists based in the south.

President Fidel Ramos ordered the justice department during a National Security Council meeting to study possible legislation that will impose higher penalties on acts of terrorism committed by Filipinos or foreigners.

Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo said Ramos was "seriously considering" sending a special envoy, most likely a Moslem, to make representations with western, Middle East and Asian countries on the need for cooperation against the terrorist threat.

Separately, the immigration bureau said it would restrict the number of Pakistani and Middle East nationals allowed to enroll in the largely Roman Catholic country's colleges and universities.

It has stationed a 12-member anti-terrorist surveillance team at the Manila international airport to look out for suspected Islamic terrorists.

The security council tackled terrorism, the sovereignty dispute over the Spratly islands in the South China Sea, and relations with Singapore in the aftermath of last month's hanging of Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion.

However, most of the recommendations approved by the council were on the terrorist issue, following the April 4 raid by Moslem gunmen on the southern town of Ipil which left 66 residents dead.

Six Middle East men alleged to have links with the masterminds of the World Trade Center bombing are also on trial here.

The council backed the interior department's call to reorganize concerned agencies under a single "action committee" against terrorism.

Ongoing peace talks with autonomy-seeking Moslem guerrillas of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the south have been put under "review," Executive Secretary Teofisto Guingona told reporters after the meeting.

This followed reports that disgruntled MNLF members were involved with the Moslem radical Abu Sayyaf group, in pillaging Ipil, Guingona said.

"In its effort to establish an Islamic state in the southern Philippines through terrorism, the Abu Sayyaf has linked up with international terrorist groups," Ramos said.

But MNLF chairman Nur Misuari, interviewed by Manila radio station DZXL from his exile in Saudi Arabia, maintained that his organization had no involvement in the Ipil raid.

The MNLF is "still in the hands of responsible people," Misuari said.