Palace: AFP checking 'presence' of terrorists

The Armed Forces of the Philippines is verifying reports that some international terrorists, including Omar Patek, may be in the Philippines, Malacañang said Saturday. Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said that while the government cannot confirm such reports at this time, the military is consolidating intelligence information on terrorist threat. “Hindi ko ‘yan makumpirma sa ngayon. Ang reaction natin sa ganitong bagay, sinabi na ng AFP ang efforts into intelligence-gathering (I cannot confirm that for now. But the AFP has already said it is gathering intelligence information)," she said on government-run dzRB radio. She said the Palace expects the AFP to monitor such reported movements of terrorists, and put measures in place to prevent “untoward incidents." A member of international terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, Omar Patek is wanted in the United States, Australia, and Indonesia on terrorism charges. The Philippines has been the subject of travel alerts from six countries, which claimed a terrorist attack may take place anytime. Among the countries that have issued such alerts were the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. — LBG, GMANews.TV