Aquino: Travel advisories warned of mall attack, not bus blast

Posted at 01/26/2011 5:47 PM | Updated as of 01/26/2011 11:25 PM

'No basis for travel warnings'


MANILA, Philippines - Despite the recent bombing of a bus on EDSA, President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday insisted there was no basis for last year's travel warnings issued by foreign governments about possible terror threats in the Philippines.

In an interview, Aquino said the travel advisories had quoted raw reports of an imminent attack on a mall, and not on a bus. 

"The basis for the travel advisory was a raw report, they were quoting an imminent attack on a mall. If I remember correctly, when they were passing it there wasn't a high confidence a level as to the veracity of the information given. But they give it in the oft chance na lest they be accused of not sharing pertinent information," Aquino said.

He added: "'Yung noon ho ang sinasabi, kung maalala ko, ang binabanggit nila ang target ay mall. 'Yung bus at 'yung mall malaki ho ang difference sa pagiging softer… But in the buses, ang layo 'nung pagiging softer. This was not identified in the previous reports."

The President admitted there are vulnerable areas in any country's security. He previously mentioned the attack on an airport in Russia. 

"Paano naman ho kung may dumating dito na unknown who is below the radar? Ano ba ang below the radar? He's new. He does not appear on any intelligence watch list in any intelligence agency in the world. He comes in, he goes out. That is a particular vulnerability of any country. Somebody who escapes the radar of the entire intelligence community of the world. There is no such thing as a hundred percent security," Aquino said.            

Aquino said the Cabinet security cluster met today to revisit and reassess all intelligence data to see if authorities had missed information on an imminent terrorist attack.

"We are trying to correlate all of this data again, revisit all of them, to find out if there were any indications of any groups that were planning this," the President told reporters after attending the Tenth Biennial Conference of the International Council of Universities of St. Thomas Aquinas (ICUSTA) at the University of Santo Tomas campus.                   

The government is not yet singling out a particular individual or group behind yesterday's blast pending the conclusion of the investigation.

The President said authorities are also exploring the angle that extortionists are targeting bus companies.

"At this present time, we will not point to any particular group as being behind this. We're not even sure that the label 'terrorists' is the most appropriate. There are certain sectors that are saying it might be an extortionist group also. So until after we have the data and solid evidence, I think we and nobody can make any pronouncements," Aquino said.


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33 comments

Tumahimik ang Lahat!!!

Wag na kayong mag comment...Matalino ang presidente natin dahil alam niya ang pagkakaiba ng "BUS at MALL"!!! Waaaahahhhhhh!!!!!!


How come you are sooo stupid?

Pnoy dont play with people's mind. You are telling us that Travel advisory is only for mall attack and not bus attack? Travel warning is still a grave warning whether bombings will take place in the malls, market, public place, schools or bus. Wag mo n lng sabihn na hindi naman travel warning para sa mga bus ang inaasahan namin kasi nagmumukha k lng stupid sa mata ng publiko.

Ang ibang bansa pag sinabihan ng impending terrorist threat naghihigapit na sa lahat ng lugar, kasi you will not know kung saan pwdeng mag strike ang bomber. Mamaya nyan inaasahan mo sa mga malls lang yun pala nasa kwarto mo na pala ang bomba. kaya palawakin ang isipan at wag gawing tanga ang publiko. Suggestion lng naman po kung ginagamit nyo nga ang isipan nyo.

Salamat.

Concerned OFW here in Kuwait.

It's me! Mike

Hmm Hindi kaya Simbahan may

Hmm Hindi kaya Simbahan may pakana nito? Para di pag-usapan ang RH Bill?


kid's at work?

Boohoo, whine whine whine, it's not my fault, they didn't tell me, blah. blah. blah.

That's what's wrong with this president. I don't think I remember ever hearing him actually take responsibility for anything that's happened.

His statement: "'Yung noon ho ang sinasabi, kung maalala ko, ang binabanggit nila ang target ay mall. 'Yung bus at 'yung mall malaki ho ang difference sa pagiging softer… But in the buses, ang layo 'nung pagiging softer. This was not identified in the previous reports."

Mr. President, wasn't it YOUR ADMINISTRATION'S choice to ignore the travel advisories of governments who have SUPERIOR intel-gathering resources than ours? In fact, wasn't it YOUR OFFICE who requested that these advisories be downgraded? Man up and take responsibility, for crying out loud.

"The basis for the travel advisory was a raw report, they were quoting an imminent attack on a mall. If I remember correctly, when they were passing it there wasn't a high confidence a level as to the veracity of the information given. But they give it in the oft chance na lest they be accused of not sharing pertinent information," Aquino said.

The mere fact that there was an advisory given SHOULD HAVE MEANT SOMETHING. So yun pala, yung lack of confidence na mall yung itatarget is beacuse sa bus pala gagawin.

"Paano naman ho kung may dumating dito na unknown who is below the radar? Ano ba ang below the radar? He's new. He does not appear on any intelligence watch list in any intelligence agency in the world. He comes in, he goes out. That is a particular vulnerability of any country. Somebody who escapes the radar of the entire intelligence community of the world. There is no such thing as a hundred percent security," Aquino said.

No one asked you for 100% security. JUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT HAPPENED.


Standard Answer

It's quite common in the Philippines when a Filipino is asked a direct question of why something happened, there first response is "IT'S NOT MY FAULT"


Math questions

hey admin,

one + ten = 11 <-- that's NOT one digit.
ten + four = 14 <-- that's NOT one digit either.

Mahina yata kayo sa math ah...


May autism ba ito?

Ano ba ito? Pag sabi ng kalaban na sa mall ang labanan eh kailangan doon lang ang babantayan? At ang sinungaling ay siya ang taya? Nakakaloka!


Nangyari ang bombing dahil nag-relax sina Porshe-Aquino

Nangyayari ang mga ganitong bagay kapag hindi pinaghandaan. The government of President Porsche Aquino was warned not just once. Hindi lang isang bansa ang nag-warning sa atin di ba? If Porsche-Noynoy chose to heed that warning and actually did something then hindi mangyayari ang bombing na ito. Nasa PREPARATION yan. Nasa PLANNING yan. If the terrorists was able to plan for this thing, then our government should have been able to do the same. Mas malaki ang resources ng gobyerno. Mas maraming tao ang gobyerno. Mas maraming experts ang gobyerno natin. What went wrong? I'll tell you what went wrong. KINATAMARAN kasi eh. Again, hindi na nila trinabaho ito. And what's worse, Porsche-Noynoy himself is trying to justify their incompetence by telling us that "the travel warning warned of a mall attack not a bus attack.".

HELLO??? NASA GRADE SCHOOL KA PA BA DEAR PRESIDENT PORSCHE???

*** Ang pagsilbi sa bayan ay hindi dapat katamaran. Bayan dapat ang inuuna. Kalimutan muna ang pag-endorso sa kaibigan o pagbili ng mamahaling sasakyan. Nangako ka sa bayan. Tuparin mo. ***

HELLO? NASA GRADESCHOOL KA PA

HELLO? NASA GRADESCHOOL KA PA DIN BA?

US nga sobra handa kinakapkapan pa kahit saan sa airport, at minomonitor ang mga sa tingin nila terrorista pero nakakalusot pa rin ang bombing at shooting. 9/11 lang for example. Yung shooting sa arizona na halos mamatay yung isang politiko nila.

Sinong handa ngayon? Ikaw siguro yung tamad. Tumayo ka dyan masyado ka nang mataba lumabas ka ng kwarto mo, lumabas ka sa bahay ng mga magulang mo at sumilip sa labas. Langhapin mo ang araw, kailan mo huling na-silayan ang araw?


Ang BOBO mo rin pala...

Basahin mo nga ulit ang topic. Ang topic ay yung sinabi ni President Porsche Aquino na ang mall daw ang target at hindi bus. So ibig sabihin ba niyan malls lang ang babantayan? Hindi na babantayan ang paliparan, terminals at iba pang puwedeng tirahin ng terorista?

Napaghahalata ka ano. Kasing BOBO mo rin pala si Porsche Aquino. Eh magsama nga kayo. At siguro ikaw yung mataba, hindi lumalabas ng kuwarto at nakatira pa rin sa magulang.

NASA GRADE SCHOOL KA PA RIN BA? MAG-ARAL KA NG MABUTI NG GUMRADWEYT KA NA SA HIGH SCHOOL!

*** Ang pagsilbi sa bayan ay hindi dapat katamaran. Bayan dapat ang inuuna. Kalimutan muna ang pag-endorso sa kaibigan o pagbili ng mamahaling sasakyan. Nangako ka sa bayan. Tuparin mo. ***