AFP monitoring local terror groups for possible pro-Iran actions

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Lieutenant General Felimon Santos on Monday said the military is monitoring if terrorist groups in the Philippines will express sympathy to Iran following the killing of its top general, Qassem Soleimani, by the United States.

Speaking to reporters in Camp Aguinaldo, Santos said security officials had met with President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday afternoon to discuss their actions on the matter.

According to Santos, the AFP, at present, has not monitored any local terrorist group which already expressed sympathy to Iran.

“We presented our action taken. Number one is of course our monitoring with our defense attache present sa nearby countries,” Santos said.

“Number two is to monitor, intensify our intelligence monitoring on the groups, the local terrorist groups na nasa atin that might express sympathy to the Iranian. As of now wala pa namang affiliated sa Iran,” he added

Santos said Duterte is very much concerned with the welfare of Filipinos in Iran.

“He directed us to prepare and be ready to deploy our assets anytime to evacuate our countrymen in the area...” Santos said, noting that air assets such as C-130 planes are ready to be deployed in Iran.

The newly-installed AFP chief assured the public that the Philippine military would also monitor the security situation in the whole Middle East.

For its part, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it would also continue its intelligence monitoring efforts to determine groups which might express sympathy to Iran.

“There are also security concerns kasi siyempre merong sympathetic either by race or by ideology. So the PNP is profiling possible threats, possible groups who may take advantage or who might symphatize...” PNP officer-in-charge Police Lieutenant General Archie Francisco Gamboa said in a separate press briefing.

“Our intelligence monitoring would be continuous up until medyo luminaw na 'yung problema doon sa Middle East,” Gamboa added.

Soleimani, who was seen as a deadly adversary by America and its allies, was killed in a US strike last week.

President Hasan Rouhani warned that Iran and the “free nations of the region” would take revenge on the killing of Soleimani. — KBK/RSJ, GMA News