Military on red alert on eve of ASEAN summit opening

‘Keep extremists on the run,’ Esperon tells troops
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:19pm (Mla time) 01/10/2007

(UPDATE) THE military went on nationwide red alert, the highest level, Wednesday as a “precautionary measure” on the eve of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit’s opening in Cebu province, officials said.

At the same time, Armed Forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. inspected security preparations for the summit during a meeting with regional military commanders at the Armed Forces Central Command (Centcom) headquarters in Cebu City.

While there, Esperon ordered troops to keep Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants “on the run” in Sulu, following the neutralization of seven bandits, including three sub-commanders, over the past three days, a military spokesman said.

“Threat groups should be kept on the run to prevent them from staging any terror activity here in Cebu,” Bacarro quoted Esperon as saying.

Military spokesman Major General Jose Angel Honrado said the red alert was raised at 8 a.m. Wednesday. When under red alert, all leaves are cancelled and troops are required to report to their mother units.

“There is no definite threat [of terror attacks]…But we are prepared for all possible scenarios,” Armed Forces Public Information Office chief Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro told reporters in a phone interview.

Esperon was “satisfied” with the military’s preparations for the ASEAN summit and told troops to “execute their tasks in collaboration with other security agencies,” Bacarro said.

Some 5,500 soldiers, and several UH-1H helicopters, OV 10 bronco light attack planes and C-130 cargo airplanes from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) will augment the 7,000-strong police task force that will secure the summit, officials said.

The military security detail includes troops from the 7th Marine Battalion, the 7th and 46th Army Infantry Battalions, and two civil disturbance management (CDM) companies on top of Centcom forces, officials said.

“It’s all systems go…Our preparations are sufficient to foil any threat,” Bacarro said.

On Wednesday evening, Abu Sayyaf sub-commander and spiritual adviser Binang Sali was killed in an encounter with Army Scout Ranger and intelligence troops on Mount Pula in Upper Halay village, Patikul town.

Last Saturday, five Abu Sayyaf bandits including sub-commanders Abu Hubaida and Jundam Jumalul alias Black Killer, and an Indonesian JI militant, Gufran, were killed in a gun battle at sea with Navy and Marine troops off Tawi-Tawi province.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called the Tawi-Tawi encounter a “stunning victory” for the military as she warned that extremists are “doomed to annihilation.”

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