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AFP, PNP deny receiving intelligence reports on assassination plot vs. Pope
(Updated 9:06 p.m.) Officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday denied receiving intelligence reports from foreign authorities supposedly detailing a plot to kill the Pope during his five-day visit in the Philippines last month.
“We did not receive any report to that effect, na may real threat on Pope Francis during his visit. Like yung media report na may threat of bombing from the group of Marwan, wala kaming natanggap na ganun,” PNP Public Information Office head Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
Cerbo was reacting to media reports that Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his men planned to plant bombs in several areas where the Pope's convoy was expected to pass on the way to Quirino Grandstand, where he celebrated a Mass before an estimated six million people on January 18.
The report said that based on a “highly classified intelligence report” shared to the PNP by foreign authorities, an assassination plot on Pope Francis would involve several explosives personally designed by Marwan.
At the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano incident on Monday, former PNP-SAF Director Getulio Napeñas said that the PNP received a report that Jemaah Islamiyah and Marwan were planning to bomb the papal convoy on January 18, but that the information was “unconfirmed.”
Intelligence report
'Always a threat'
Marwan, who is on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's “most wanted” list, has a bounty of $5 million for his capture dead or alive. He is believed to have been behind several bombings in the Philippines and in Asia, including the 2002 Bali bombing that left over 200 people dead.
Cerbo, however, clarified that despite not receiving any assassination plot report, the PNP implemented the highest security measures during the papal visit, which included the blocking of telecommunication signals, deploying snipers in key areas, the closure of several roads and designating parking areas away from the pope's route.
“Of course there is always a threat on the life of the Pope not only in our country, kahit saan siguro siya magpunta. That was why ginawa lang natin ang nararapat—to provide the highest security,” Cerbo said.
Military denies report
AFP spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Harold Cabunoc also denied that the military received any such intelligence reports.
“We have not received such report on the plot against the Pope...But Marwan's death is a big blow on the terrorist group [that is] continuously threatening the peace. We are asking the help of the people to provide information on Basit Usman and his cohorts,” Cabunoc said.
On January 25, members of the PNP's Special Action Force attempted to serve warrants of arrest on Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. In the ensuing firefight with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), 44 policemen lost their lives.
Last week, the FBI stated that a DNA sample taken from one of the bodies in Mamasapano "indicate a possible relationship" with a DNA sample from Marwan's brother, Rahmat Abdhir, who is currently detained in the US. "Although the results of the DNA examinations do not provide absolute identification, the results do support that the biological sample" came from Marwan, the US agency added.
Basit Usman remains at large.
Bishops also not informed of any plot
In a separate phone interview, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Social Communications and Mass Media executive secretary Fr. Francis Lucas said the bishops were likewise not informed of any assassination plot.
“What was told to us by our local authorities is that there is a possible danger on the life of the Pope, but as to the specific assassination plot, wala kaming na-receive na ganyan,” Lucas said. — BM, GMA News
“We did not receive any report to that effect, na may real threat on Pope Francis during his visit. Like yung media report na may threat of bombing from the group of Marwan, wala kaming natanggap na ganun,” PNP Public Information Office head Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
Cerbo was reacting to media reports that Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his men planned to plant bombs in several areas where the Pope's convoy was expected to pass on the way to Quirino Grandstand, where he celebrated a Mass before an estimated six million people on January 18.
The report said that based on a “highly classified intelligence report” shared to the PNP by foreign authorities, an assassination plot on Pope Francis would involve several explosives personally designed by Marwan.
At the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano incident on Monday, former PNP-SAF Director Getulio Napeñas said that the PNP received a report that Jemaah Islamiyah and Marwan were planning to bomb the papal convoy on January 18, but that the information was “unconfirmed.”
Intelligence report
GMA News Online has reported on a highly classified intelligence report, shared to Philippine police authorities by their foreign counterparts, that detailed the supposed assassination plot masterminded by Marwan, using his own-designed explosives which should have been planted on several places where Masses were to be held and attended by multitudes of Catholic devotees.
Also, foreign terrorists associated with Marwan continue to expand their network in southern Philippines as they continue to roam freely in Mindanao, an exclusive report on GMA News "24 Oras" said on Tuesday.
According to Prof. Rommel Banlaoi, a security analyst and executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, the suspected terrorists are behind the terrorist group the Khalifa Islamiya Mindanao or the Black Flag Movement.
The group reportedly aligns itself with the ISIS.
Marwan, who is on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's “most wanted” list, has a bounty of $5 million for his capture dead or alive. He is believed to have been behind several bombings in the Philippines and in Asia, including the 2002 Bali bombing that left over 200 people dead.
Cerbo, however, clarified that despite not receiving any assassination plot report, the PNP implemented the highest security measures during the papal visit, which included the blocking of telecommunication signals, deploying snipers in key areas, the closure of several roads and designating parking areas away from the pope's route.
“Of course there is always a threat on the life of the Pope not only in our country, kahit saan siguro siya magpunta. That was why ginawa lang natin ang nararapat—to provide the highest security,” Cerbo said.
Military denies report
AFP spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Harold Cabunoc also denied that the military received any such intelligence reports.
“We have not received such report on the plot against the Pope...But Marwan's death is a big blow on the terrorist group [that is] continuously threatening the peace. We are asking the help of the people to provide information on Basit Usman and his cohorts,” Cabunoc said.
On January 25, members of the PNP's Special Action Force attempted to serve warrants of arrest on Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. In the ensuing firefight with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), 44 policemen lost their lives.
Last week, the FBI stated that a DNA sample taken from one of the bodies in Mamasapano "indicate a possible relationship" with a DNA sample from Marwan's brother, Rahmat Abdhir, who is currently detained in the US. "Although the results of the DNA examinations do not provide absolute identification, the results do support that the biological sample" came from Marwan, the US agency added.
Basit Usman remains at large.
Bishops also not informed of any plot
In a separate phone interview, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Social Communications and Mass Media executive secretary Fr. Francis Lucas said the bishops were likewise not informed of any assassination plot.
“What was told to us by our local authorities is that there is a possible danger on the life of the Pope, but as to the specific assassination plot, wala kaming na-receive na ganyan,” Lucas said. — BM, GMA News
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