By Mata Press Service
Canada has warned the Philippines that terrorists are planning attacks at a regional heads of state summit that is to be held in the island city of Cebu this month.
Saying it has received credible information that terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks, it has advised against all travel to Cebu and warned Canadians residing in Cebu to exercise increased awareness at all times and avoid public places such as malls, places of worship, restaurants, as much as possible.
The heads of 16 Asian states belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are scheduled to attend the Cebu meeting from Jan. 11 to Jan. 15. The summit was postponed from December because of a threatening typhoon.
Australia, Britain and New Zealand -- have also advised their nationals to stay away from southern and central areas of the Philippines during the summit.
The Philippines said it has no plans to postpone the event despite the warnings.
“With a deep sense of pride and national unity, let us put our best foot forward as the Philippines hosts these historic meetings,” President Gloria Arroyo told military officials at Camp Aguinaldo this month.
Amidst the warnings, the Philippine government announced that it has launched a nationwide manhunt for an alleged Vietnamese-American terrorist who could pose a threat to Asian leaders during the Asean meeting.
Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez told media in Manila that they were attempting to find fugitive Vihn Nguyen Tan before the summit.
“In view of the uncertainty as to his whereabouts, it may be assumed that he has not left the Philippines and therefore poses a threat to the forthcoming Asean Summit,” Gonzalez said.
Tan, 51, who is also known as Vo Van Duc, is the alleged leader of the Free Vietnam Revolutionary Group.
He was arrested at a suburban house in the capital Manila in 2001 while allegedly assembling a bomb for use in attacking the Vietnamese Embassy here.
Duc was serving a four-year sentence when he was illegally freed in 2005 by corrupt immigration officials who gave him a Filipino passport.
Efforts to locate him have been futile, and three immigration officials are now being investigated for the fiasco.
Gonzalez said Duc is also wanted in Thailand for a failed bombing of the Vietnamese Embassy there in 2001, as well as for an arson attack on Hanoi’s mission in London in 2000.
Duc was born in South Vietnam, but records show his declared permanent address is in San Jose, California, Gonzalez said.
Meanwhile a report in the Philippines said not everything is going on as planned at the rescheduled summit despite assurances by Manila. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has declined the Philippine government’s invitation to address the high-level meeting, and even scrapped the airing of the planned video message from him.
Indonesian President Yudhoyono Susilo Bambang has given notice that he will be cutting short his trip. Australia’s foreign minister has sent his regrets.
The Japanese foreign minister has done the same. And even the Japanese premier has reportedly scrapped the plan of holding a live press conference in Cebu to announce Japan’s policy in East Asia, with talks of making this announcement instead in Europe.
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy won’t be around for the Cebu summit either.
Asean groups the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Its dialogue partners are China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. Last month, the Philippine government made a last-minute decision to postpone the Asean leaders meeting and the East Asia Summit on the resort island in Cebu, citing an approaching typhoon, which eventually skirted the summit venue.
Political unrest and security concerns raised by foreign governments were said to be the real behind the summit’s abrupt cancellation, the first in the Asean’s 39-year history.
Amid international criticisms, the Philippine government maintained that bad weather caused the cancellation of the summit.
Militant groups have also announced their readiness to stage protest actions during the rescheduled ASEAN Summit in Cebu .
According to Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary-general, the postponement of the summit in December last year merely delayed the protest actions that will continue to hound the Arroyo administration. “Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should be ashamed before the Asean community for many crimes she committed against the Filipino people.
The postponement of the Asean Summit in December merely delayed the protest actions that will continue to hound Arroyo before the international community,” Reyes said.
