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Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Sarangani Bay security tightened
AUTHORITIES are beefing up security measures along the Sarangani Bay to quell possible attempts of other militant Jemaah Islamiyah members to enter the country, officials said.
Glan town police commander Inspector Luduvico Ripdos recently revealed having received intelligence reports that members of the Indonesia-based terror group with links to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network are using the bay to sneak into the country.
"We are heightening our security patrol along the bay to stop the possible entry of terrorists even as we validate this intelligence information," Ripdos said Saturday.
Glan, lying at the southern tip of Sarangani province, is accessible by sea travel from Indonesia.
It is just three hours away by motorized boat from Indonesia's nearest islands.
Ripdos said they are now coordinating with the Philippine Navy, which has a naval station in Glan, in patrolling the bay.
With its more than 200-kilometer coastline, Sarangani Bay is an easy target for illegal entrants.
Sarangani Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez recently told reporters that two more patrol boats are expected to arrive in the province from the Philippine Navy as part of security beef up in the bay.
"Presently, only one patrol boat is securing the bay from suspicious elements," Dominguez said.
The governor said any violent attack in the area would derail efforts to attract investors.
"The business environment would definitely be affected if ever these terrorists would sow chaos in the area," noted the governor.
The officials bared the heightened security patrol along the bay in the wake of the recent bombings in Bali, Indonesia and also following reports that two Jemaah Islamiya operatives suspected of involvement in the 2002 Bali blast, which killed some 200 people, are already in Central Mindanao.
The two were identified as Dulmatin and Umar Patek. The United States government recently offered cash reward of US$10 million and US$1 million for the capture respectively of the two bombing suspects.
Major General Agustin Demaala, commander of the 6th Infantry Division that has jurisdiction over Central Mindanao, said the duo has reportedly been hiding in the region.
Demaala claimed that Dulmatin and Patek have sought protection from Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani.
(October 17, 2005 issue)
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