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Philippines angry over shutdown of Embassies for terror alert
Manila, Nov 29: The Philippines today created a special police squad to protect Embassies but hit out at Australia and Canada for closing their missions here without warning for alleged terror threats.
Manila, Nov 29: The Philippines today created a
special police squad to protect Embassies but hit out at
Australia and Canada for closing their missions here without
warning for alleged terror threats.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said information about the threat from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Islamic militancy had not been shared with local police before the missions were shut down yesterday. They remained shuttered today.
Speaking after a meeting with the Australian and Canadian Ambassadors, Ople told reporters late yesterday the terror alert "came from their home governments and presumably their own intelligence."
Ople told the ambassadors the shutdown gave "a black eye to the Philippines," particularly as the country had taken an active role in hunting down Islamic extremists in the region.
"The ambassadors expressed regret over this development," he said. "They said the threat came from Islamic fundamentalists, specifically Jemaah Islamiyah."
President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said Embassy officials refused to disclose the source of their information even as he stressed the Philippines also had the right to know if a terrorist attack was imminent on its "sovereign soil."
Bureau Report
Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said information about the threat from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Islamic militancy had not been shared with local police before the missions were shut down yesterday. They remained shuttered today.
Speaking after a meeting with the Australian and Canadian Ambassadors, Ople told reporters late yesterday the terror alert "came from their home governments and presumably their own intelligence."
Ople told the ambassadors the shutdown gave "a black eye to the Philippines," particularly as the country had taken an active role in hunting down Islamic extremists in the region.
"The ambassadors expressed regret over this development," he said. "They said the threat came from Islamic fundamentalists, specifically Jemaah Islamiyah."
President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said Embassy officials refused to disclose the source of their information even as he stressed the Philippines also had the right to know if a terrorist attack was imminent on its "sovereign soil."
Bureau Report