5 AFP battalions sent to fight terror in MM

Five Armed Forces battalions were placed on standby for anti-terrorist action in Metro Manila and any trouble spot as the government assured the safety of Iraqi diplomats and their families in the country.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Dionisio Santiago has placed on alert three companies of Army Scout Rangers and Special Forces detailed with the AFP Anti-Crime Task Force.

Ready at a moment’s notice are 1,000 troops from Task Force Arrowhead and three battalions — one each from the Army, Navy-Marines and Air Force.

Arrowhead serves as the rapid deployment force of the Armed Forces, while the anti-crime task force is a military strike unit against criminal syndicates and terrorists.

However, Santiago yesterday denied warning that terrorists would strike civilian targets in the country in case the United States attacks Iraq.

Meeting the press at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Santiago said he was taken out of context when he was quoted in published reports as saying that there was a high possibility of a terrorist retaliatory attack in the Philippines.

"Let me clarify the so-called warning of retaliatory terrorist attacks is only a possibility which we in the military should consider for contingency planning most especially, for worst-case scenario," he said.

Santiago said it is also possible that terrorists might not attack the country and that the "worst-case scenario" might not even happen at all.

"Let us be responsible this time, whatever you say and it is distorted, everybody will be affected," he told the reporters.

"These are sensitive issues. In the AFP, we have troops ready to respond to a situation, so too with the Philippine National Police."

In Qatar, retired general Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team, warned Filipinos in that Persian Gulf country to "take the necessary precautions" against any terrorist attack.

"Terrorists don’t select their targets, so be very careful," Cimatu was quoted as saying.

Cimatu said the government’s top priority is the safety and welfare of the 1.4 million overseas Filipino workers in the Gulf amid the threat of war.

"That’s why the government is preparing for the uncertainties of war," he said. – With Mayen Jaymalin