[Fwd: [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.

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--
Marissa D. de Guzman
Research/Information & Communications Officer
SEACA/South East Asian Committee for Advocacy
#29D Mayaman Street
UP Village, Diliman
Quezon City 1101 PHILIPPINES
Tel +63 2 920 6228
Fax +63 2 920 6202
Mobile +63 917 885 2413
Email mdeg...@seaca.net
URL http://www.seaca.net