NEWSFLASH

METRO MANILA SECURITY TIGHTENED AFTER BOMB THREATS

Manila, May 9, 2000 - Police doubled their guard at the Light Railway Transit (LRT) terminal in Baclaran, Parañaque, after a plot allegedly hatched by Muslim groups to bomb the place, was uncovered yesterday.

Plain clothes policemen and teams of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) from Parañaque and Pasay City are now stationed in strategic places to ensure the safety of commuters.

The deployment followed intelligence reports that several Metro Manila-based Muslim groups, are out to bomb the crowded LRT station.

Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also tightened security at its Roxas Boulevard Complex.

The BSP installed metal detectors in its lobbies, although these were not yet operational yesterday. A security desk was also installed on the fifth floor of the five-storey building where the BSP governor's office and Monetary Board members' offices are located.

Stairways to the fifth floor have been sealed off and access to the elevators and escalators has been limited. Anybody who wants to see the BSP chief, his deputies, or MB members have to have their presence announced and cleared before they can proceed, accompanied by a security escort.

Last Saturday an anonymous telephone caller warned the Parañaque police that groups of Muslims, sympathetic to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf, have planned their bombing sorties in Metro Manila.

A homemade bomb exploded at the Agrifina Circle in Luneta Saturday dawn. The explosion injured one person.

Parañaque police chief, Superintendent Roberto Rongavilla, said that while he has yet to be briefed on the alleged bombing plot, a maximum police alert was already in place.

But a ranking Pasay police official confirmed the report, saying that several urgent dispatches from higher headquarters detailing the bombing plot have been forwarded to lower police units for counter measures.

Aside from increasing police visibility in crowded places, police commanders in Metro Manila are also under orders to tap barangay officials and tanods for information and intelligence on any criminal group out to take advantage of the Mindanao conflict.