Bomb threat stirs British Embassy

Amid reports that terrorists are planning to bomb embassies in Metro Manila, a still unidentified man threatened yesterday to bomb the British Embassy and two other buildings in Makati City.

Police said the threat was received at around 8:30 a.m. by an unidentified person who was on the 18th floor of the Locsin Building, on Ayala Avenue in Makati City, one story above the British Embassy.

Locsin Building administrator Alexander Dimahilig said they evacuated the tenants of the building as the Makati City police bomb squad searched for the supposed bomb for two hours but found none.

"We found nothing. It was negative," said bomb squad operations chief Senior Police Officer 2 Edwin Quilala. "This was probably from a prankster who wanted to ride on the situation because of the anniversary of Sept. 11."

The British Embassy said it considered the bomb threat "serious" and closed the embassy for the day.

"We already informed Philippine authorities about the incident and we have closed the embassy for the time being. There is no final decision if we’re going to open tomorrow but it is not yet final," embassy Second Secretary Katy Parker said in a statement.

"If there is already a report, probably we could open tomorrow," she said, adding that Britain may review its travel advisory to its nationals in the Philippines.

"We will keep that under review. Any review will be based on the investigation of Philippine authorities but we will consider that although there is no specific threat against British nationals," she said.

An hour after the threat at the Locsin Building, another bomb squad was dispatched to the Jacinta building on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue in Barangay Guadalupe Nuevo after building administrator Eric Arevalo reported that they also received a bomb threat from an unidentified man.

The police bomb squad conducted a search of the building after it was evacuated but the police found no bomb.

The administrators of the King’s Court Building 2 at the corner of Chino Roces (formerly Pasong Tamo) Avenue at Legaspi Village also reported a threat but the police bomb squad likewise found no bomb.

‘Under control’

The three bomb threats came following a warning by the US government that the al-Qaeda terrorist network, blamed for the Sept.. 11 attacks in the United States, planned truck bomb attacks on US embassies in Southeast Asia.

The authorities reinforced security at the British, US and Israeli embassies as well as airports, seaports and other vital installations.

Despite the security precautions, however, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez assured the people that "things are under control."

"Things are under control and there is no specific threat," Golez said during the change of command rites at the Philippine Air Force headquarters at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

At Malacañang, Golez clarified that US warning against truck bomb attacks on American facilities all over the world was just part of a "worldwide alert" and not specifically meant for the Philippines.

"I would like to emphasize that the message of Assistant Secretary James Kelly of the US State Department about this threat is a worldwide alert about their embassies, especially in the areas under Kelly," Golez pointed out.

"Because Kelly is the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific, this is the wide area where we are in the Pacific," but Golez said it was not meant intentionally for the Philippines.

Golez noted that although the US has closed down its embassies in Indonesia and Malaysia, its Manila station remains open for business.

"In their own intelligence estimate, our place here in the Philippines is okay," Golez said. "They trust that the threat of danger here is not that serious and they have seen that our security arrangements at their embassy are okay."

‘Safest in the world’

In fact, Philippine National Police (PNP) intelligence director Chief Superintendent Roberto Delfin assured that the US embassy in Manila is the "safest in the world."

"No less than US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone cited the effective security measures we have there. This makes the US embassy in Manila the safest and most relaxed in the whole world," Delfin told reporters at Camp Crame.

Delfin, who he turned over command of the PNP Intelligence Group to Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, said that US embassies in other parts of Southeast Asia were more susceptible to terrorist attacks.

He said the US government decided to close down its embassy in Jakarta after Indonesian authorities learned from an alleged member of the al-Qaeda network, a certain Omar Farouq, revealed of the planned truck bomb attacks.

Delfin noted that reports of plans to hit US targets in the Philippines were old information and the new reports are the ones that were squeezed out of Farouq by Indonesian authorities.

Farouq, who was arrested only two months ago, is now under American custody in the special detention facilities it built at its Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba. - With reports from Delon Porcalla, Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Rey Arquiza and AFP