No terror threat in ASEAN Summit, military reiterates

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 07:52pm (Mla time) 01/03/2007

THERE is "no validated threat" of terrorist attacks on the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cebu province, which will push through next week after being postponed in early December, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

The 5,000 troops tasked to guard the summit never left the central Philippine province even after the summit was hastily cancelled last December 8, two days before its formal kick-off at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in Mandaue City, said Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro.

If there were a threat to the summit, it would be street protests from left-wing militants, not attacks from the al Qaeda-linked groups Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah, Bacarro said.

"There is no direct threat. Based on intelligence information, there is no validated threat," Bacarro told reporters when asked if the annual summit was under threat from terrorists.

"Contingencies are in place" to thwart all kinds of attacks, Bacarro said. Late last year, the military said it was guarding against underwater bombings that could disrupt the summit.

"[Troops] never pulled out of the area. The Army, the Navy, and the Air Force have maintained a hold on the area," he said.

Military forces will augment some 7,000 policemen who have been tasked to secure the regional leaders' meeting.

The government had cited "Seniang" (international codename: Utor) as the reason for postponing the ASEAN summit amid reports that terrorist groups were gearing for attacks.

"I believe there is no reason to cancel the summit [this time]," Bacarro said.

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