Fw: [Asean-ph] RP to bar entry of foreign activists in Asean Summit

[marissa d. de guzman]

 
Inq7 Breaking News / Nation 
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id
=34743

RP to bar entry of foreign activists in Asean Summit

'Trouble-makers to be thrown into Mactan Straits'

By Armand Nocum
Inquirer

Posted date: November 25, 2006

 

THE government will stop the entry of foreign "trouble-makers'' who will
attempt to disrupt the peaceful holding of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Cebu from December 11 to 14, Justice
Secretary Raul Gonzalez warned on Saturday.

 

In a telephone interview with the Inquirer, Gonzalez cited "intelligence
reports'' indicating that local and international groups would try to mar
the summit with massive protest actions.

 

"There are also intelligence reports about that, but the intelligence
community believes they can handle it. I also ordered that all the
trouble-makers should not be allowed to enter the country,'' Gonzalez said.

 

The justice secretary said the Philippines would emulate Singapore in
ensuring the security of an international conference of foreign leaders in
its territory. "Singapore banned all the trouble makers from entering
Singapore during the World Bank meeting in Singapore,'' he said.

 

"We will not allow a situation where the international delegates, the chiefs
of state will be cordoned off inside Shangri-La (Hotel on Mactan Island),"
said Gonzalez. He said this happened recently in Hong Kong, where foreign
delegates were "prevented from leaving the building" due to protest actions.

 

"We will not allow that here. We will throw them into the Mactan Straits and
let the sharks eat them there,'' he said.

 

Gonzalez said he would not mind criticisms and protests from international
human rights groups because the country had grown used to being the
"whipping boy" on the issue of human rights abuses.

 

Despite the possibility of disruptive protests, Gonzalez said the country's
intelligence community had expressed confidence that the 15,000 soldiers and
policemen deployed in Cebu City are enough to foil any trouble.

 

"There will be an iron curtain imposed there,'' he said.

 

He also admitted that fear of threat to the lives of the delegates or their
staff was one of the reasons he ordered the tightening of the security check
at the country's airports.

 

Last Friday, Gonzalez directed immigration and airport officials to strictly
monitor all Pakistani, Afghan, and Indian nationals entering the country,
amid intelligence reports that operatives of Arab terrorist leader Osama Bin
Laden entered the country recently.

 

In a memorandum order, Gonzalez said he received confidential information
regarding the use of airlines for trafficking of Indian nationals to Manila,
using, among others, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as the port of
entry.

 

"It was discovered that in many cases, the arrival of Indians with fake
Philippine visas and/or re-entry permits or Special Return Certificates are
not officially admitted by corrupt immigration officers and the same are not
encoded in the BI Travel Info Database,'' Gonzalez said.

 

According to Gonzalez, the surveillance would also cover other foreign
visitors carrying Indian passports who enter the Philippines.

 

Gonzalez said some Pakistanis and Afghans, who were suspected emissaries of
Bin Laden, used fake Indian passports in entering other countries where they
intend to undertake their terrorist activities.

 

"For these reasons, you are hereby directed to strictly monitor and conduct
surveillance and profiling of all Pakistanis and Afghans, as well as Indian
nationals and other foreign visitors carrying Indian passports, who enter
Philippines, and submit a weekly report thereon. You are also directed to
secure all airline passenger manifests which must be confirmed and
cross-checked by the official BID encoded arrival list,'' the justice
secretary said in his memorandum.

 

---

_______________________________________________
Asean-ph mailing list
Asea...@mail.fma.ph
http://mail.fma.ph/mailman/listinfo/asean-ph

[George Aditjondro]

you have sent this before, Marissa. Is this to warn me
of possible deportation from the Phil? Hahaha.

--- "marissa d. de guzman" <mdeg...@seaca.net>
wrote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Asean-ph mailing list
> Asea...@mail.fma.ph
> http://mail.fma.ph/mailman/listinfo/asean-ph
>
>
>
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com