Palace: UK advisory not really new, PNoy acted on travel warnings

Malacañang on Thursday expressed no alarm over the travel advisory issued anew by United Kingdom, saying the warning was an old one that was just updated to include the Makati City bus bombing incident where five people were killed. “There was basically no change in the travel advisory, except the added statement on the bus bombing," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters at a press briefing. In its travel advisory updated Thursday, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office noted criminal gangs may sometimes adopt tactics used by terrorists. "Criminal gangs sometimes use terrorist tactics, such as kidnapping and explosions. Explosions attributed to criminal organizations have caused fatalities. On 25 January an explosion on a passenger bus in the Makati district of Manila killed five people and injured 13. The cause of the explosion is not yet known. There are no reports of foreign nationals being involved," the advisory said. Lacierda also belied House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman's accusation that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III did not act on the travel advisories issued by other countries late last year. Last November, five countries – the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – issued travel warnings on the Philippines supposedly due to risks of terrorist attacks in the country. While Lacierda admitted the government was surprised with the bus bombing last Tuesday, he said authorities took steps to address the threats mentioned in the travel warnings even if the information from which the warnings were based was still raw. When the warnings were made public, the Armed Forces and National Police were placed on heightened alert, police visibility and foot patrol were increased and additional personnel were deployed in malls, Lacierda said. “We didn’t sleep on it. We did not ignore the warning," said Lacierda, adding that the "noisy minority" to should stop politicizing the issue. “Kung pwede lang sana stop politicizing the issue. Instead we need to rally people to back this administration," Lacierda said. Crime statistics down Lacierda also denied claims that the government is not capable of preventing crimes from happening. He said figures from the National Police showed that there was a general decrease in crime statistics last year. “The crime statistics was down by 41 percent; kidnapping for ransom was down by 28.07 percent, murder was down by 6.3 percent while carnapping was down by 37 percent," he said. “These things cannot be fudged. These statistics are verifiable based on police blotters, culled and summarized in final report. If you have doubts we have the final report and the PNP can help look at it," Lacierda added. Political capital House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Thursday also made an appeal to fellow politicians not to make the Makati bus bombing incident a political issue. Don’t make “political capital out of the misery," he said. Belmonte made the statement after allies of former President and now Pampanga Rep. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the House of Representatives said that Aquino should have taken into account the travel warnings issued by five countries on the Philippines last year in the light of the a passenger bus bombing in Makati last Tuesday. [see story: Arroyo allies tell Aquino to improve anti-terror drive] “The intelligence people would have been taking note of these statements of others, maybe contacting them [foreign countries] for their reasons for saying these, but these are not the sort of things you announce to the public," he told reporters at a press briefing. Stop speculations Belmonte also said that people should stop “speculating" that the bombing is part of a destabilization plot against the Aquino government. “We should not speculate on things like that. Masyadong far-reaching ‘yung mga ganoong speculations. Let the guys who have done the actual investigations make the statements," he said. Authorities said on Wednesday that the 81-millimeter mortar shell used for the incident was the “signature" of past bus bombings in Mindanao and parts of Metro Manila – including the Rizal Day bombing on Dec. 30, 2000 and the Valentine's Day bombing of a bus in Makati City in 2005. President Aquino, meanwhile, said the government should exercise caution careful in pinpointing any group or individual behind the Makati City bus bombing. The secessionist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has already denied any involvement in the bombing incident, even offering help to the government in solving the case. — with a report by Andreo Calonzo/LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV