AFP, PNP verifying if guns used in Jakarta attack came from PHL  

The Philippine government is looking into the report that the guns used by the suspects in last week's terrorist attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, came from the Philippines.

At present, both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have yet to receive a formal report from Jakarta regarding the matter.

"We will wait for the report from our counterparts from the Indonesian national police and we will start checking once we have the documents already," said PNP chief Dir. Gen. Ricardo Marquez on Monday.

Arms smuggling has been a problem between the two countries, with Philippine authorities blaming the country's porous borders particularly in the south for the problem.

For his part, AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said there is an existing protocol between the Philippines and Indonesia to share such information.

"Pag may mga ganito po klaseng impormasyon o allegations at kinakailangan pong i-refer sa isang bansa, nagkakaroon po ng mga protocol na sinusunod so nagkakaroon po ng palitan ng impormasyon," Padilla said.

"Hanggang sa ngayon po wala pa po tayong nakukuhang detalye o anumang report ukol dito," he added, echoing Marquez's statement.

Malacañang, through Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr., said there "is a need to verify" the information, which was reported by the Wall Street Journal quoting Indonesian police spokesperson Anton Charliyan.

Eight people were killed in the attack on Jakarta last Thursday.

Though both the Philippine police and military said they have not monitored similar threats in the country, both raised their alert levels on the same day of the attack. —KBK, GMA News