AFP: No need to avoid malls, other public places

From Malaya Business Insight (Nov 24): AFP: No need to avoid malls, other public places

THE Armed Forces yesterday there is no need for the public to avoid crowded places, including malls, as government forces wage an intensified campaign against the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

“Please continue on with your usual schedule, with your normal lives…We must not allow ourselves to do that. Instead go on with our ordinary lives,” AFP spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla told a press briefing.

He issued the statement after reports quoted presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda as urging the Filipino people to avoid places like malls, where large crowd gather because “terrorism knows no border.”

Padilla said Lacierda may have been “taken out of context when he was quoted as calling on the public not to go to public places” during the military’s intensified campaign against the Abu Sayyaf.

“If we change our daily normal activities, refrain from ordinary things that we do everyday, it’s like the terrorists have already achieved their objective which is change our way of life and avoid our daily activities,” he said.

Lacierda was asked Sunday how the public can contribute to the global war against terrorism in the aftermath of the Paris attacks and the beheading by Abu Sayyaf bandits of a Malaysian they kidnapped last May.

Lacierda said it is important for the public to be “vigilant.”

“May mga media advisories po tayo, may mga warnings po, lalo na in areas na parati pong paboritong i-target na be wary po, especially in areas where the public mill, tulad ng malls, ‘yung mga ganito po.

Dapat bantayan po natin ang ating mga kagamitan, and if there any suspicious items, let’s report it to the proper authorities po,” he said.

Padilla said the military has not received any “credible threat regarding terror groups who are planning to launch attacks in the country.”

Padilla also said the AFP likewise has no information on any presence of members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the country “or legitimate sympathizers” in the country.

“There is no authentic link or relationship between the ISIS and the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) in Mindanao,” he also said.

However, Padilla asked the public to be “vigilant and watchful against terrorism and terror attacks,” citing the November 13 Paris attacks that left over a hundred people dead and the November 19 hostage-taking in Mali that left 27 people dead.

President Aquino ordered the military to intensify operations against the Abu Sayyaf after the beheading of Malaysian Bernard Then in Indanan, Sulu on Tuesday last week.

The Abu Sayyaf is still keeping several foreign and Filipino hostages in Sulu province, including Dutch Elwood Horn – one of the two wildlife photographers abducted in Tawi-Tawi in February 2012.

The group is also believed to be holding in Sulu two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina abducted from a resort in Samal Island in Davao del Norte last September 21. The Abu Sayyaf is demanding P1 billion ransom for each of the hostages.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/afp-no-need-avoid-malls-other-public-places