Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was faced with assassination threats from militant groups, officials said on Thursday.
The president has canceled a trip to the country's northern city of Baguio scheduled for the coming weekend because of assassination threats from Southeast Asian regional radical network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and its local ally Abu Sayyaf, Philippine TV network GMA News reported, citing Romeo Prestoza, head of the Presidential Security Group.
President Arroyo was supposed to attend the homecoming of Philippine Military Academy graduates in the "summer capital" on Saturday. She is an adopted member of Class 1978 of the academy, the homecoming's senior host class.
Prestoza said intelligence information from the Philippine National Police (PNP) warned of threats not only to President Arroyo but also to other government officials.
"It was the PNP that discovered the threat. They are coming out with an assessment of how deep the threat is. It's not just the president, there are other targets," Prestoza told reporters.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the plot is partly the reason why the president is not going to the Baguio City.
"We have now a report on an active attempt on the life of the President herself and this has become the basis of our actions for putting the Armed Forces of the Philippines in full state of preparedness," Esperon told a press briefing.
The JI has funded a number of attacks by the Abu Sayyaf among other radical groups, including the bombing the Feb. 27, 2004 of a passenger ferry off Manila Bay that left at least 200 people dead, according to the police.
Last month, Esperon said that there were at least 20 JI men operating in the country from a high of 30 to 40 members a few years ago. On the other hand, the military said the Abu Sayyaf has less than 400 members mostly confined in Sulu and Basilan, the southern Philippines.
The announcement came a day before a major rally in the capital's Makati financial district by political opponents of Arroyo to demand her resignation over allegations of corruption linking the first family. Reportedly, the rally is also a reason for Arroyo to cancel the trip.
Esperon said the military revealed the plot not to scare the people who may participate in the protest rally.
"The reports are very current and there have been validations and ongoing validations. We are out of the political question. We are simply acting as security forces and so we have deemed it necessary that we come up in the open about our assessment of the situation," said the general.
Source: Xinhua
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