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Arroyo: Philippines Has Been Fighting Terrorism Long Before Sept. 11
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| Arroyo says we are not the next one |
By IOL Correspondent in Asia Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, Jan. 19, (IslamOnline) - President Gloria Arroyo Macapagal of the Philippines said Friday, that her country has been fighting terrorism long before the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
She added that the U.S. has just joined the Philippines in the war against terror, while reacting to the remark of a U.S. senator that the Philippines appear to be "the next target, after Afghanistan on the war on terrorism."
"As far as I’m concerned, we have been fighting the terrorists. After the September 11 attacks, they were the ones who joined us," she explained.
Arroyo said U.S. Senator, Sam Brownback’s opinion that the Philippines could be the new front in the U.S. war against terrorism is "his own."
"(It is) from his point of view. Actually, we are not the next one because we have been fighting this war against terrorism long before the September 11 terrorist attacks," she repeated.
Meanwhile, General Santos City (GSC) local authorities have seized a ton of explosives on Thursday, January 17 that is suspected of being connected to the Al-Qaeda network.
Fifty-four cartons of explosive primers used to detonate explosives, 17 M-16 rifles, detonating devices and bomb-making equipment were also found.
Authorities also managed arrest three suspects with links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
The discovery and the arrest came after a tip came from the Singaporean police. The Singaporean police have made their own arrests against the terrorist network in their country.
The Philippine government is still verifying reports that members of the Al-Qaeda network were sighted in Mindanao.
Presidential adviser for national security, Roilo Golez, said they need more time to look into the reports because of a number of Filipino individuals who look like Middle-Easterns.
However, Golez refused to comment on the report that the presence of U.S. troops in the country as part of the joint military exercises between the two countries is because of Al-Qaeda members that have been reportedly sighted in Mindanao.
On the other hand, government officials, dismayed by mounting criticism of U.S. troops joining operations against the Abu Sayyaf, said Friday that American soldiers might not go out in the field at all.
Presidential Adviser, Eduardo Ermita, told reporters the Philippine and U.S. militaries were reviewing how to conduct the joint operations in rebel territory and could decide that the Americans need not accompany local counterparts on patrol or assault missions.
Other officials said it would be at least three months before any U.S. soldier would be deployed on the field in the area.
Although officially non-combatants, sending hundreds of U.S. troops to the Philippines represents Washington's biggest expansion of their so-called "war against terror" after Afghanistan, Reuters reported.
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