By AARON RECUENCO
THE Philippine National Police (PNP) is now monitoring some foreigners who have entered the country for their possible ties with local terrorist group especially those based in Mindanao.
PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said that based on their intelligence monitoring, some of the foreigners they are currently monitoring are from Indonesia.
“We are monitoring alleged foreigners but we cannot confirm that they are terrorists or ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) members,” said Albayalde.
“We have a few listed foreign names especially coming from Indonesia but we cannot really confirm if they are really members of the ISIS or terrorist group,” he added,
Albayalde’s statement came as the police have filed and continuously running after those responsible for the bombings in Isulan, Siltan Kudarat and Lamitan City in Basilan.
The official, however, said that the threats of bombings are always present, noting that terror groups are just waiting for any opportunity to strike.
In fact, he said bombing and other form of terror attack also happen in other countries, including the highly-developed ones.
“With regard to threat to terrorism, I have been saying ever since that the threat of terrorism is already global, it’s there. It can occur anytime,” said Albayalde.
What is important, according to him, is that the PNP and other security forces are exerting all efforts to deny terror groups the opportunity to carry out their attacks.
This is the reason, he said, why they hoisted full alert status in Mindanao and issued directives to police commanders to remain on guard and intensify the intelligence-gathering further.
“We should note relax because the threat is always there. So there is a need to cooperate with each other, to collaborate with our foreign counterparts also because the threat is global,” said Albayalde.