MANILA – The Japanese Embassy in Manila reported on Tuesday that Tokyo has received intelligence information regarding a possible terror attack in six nations, including the Philippines.
The Embassy stated in an email that it cannot provide details, but that the advisory is intended for its citizens.
“We confirm that the Japanese government has received information about a possible terror attack, but we cannot give you any detailed background at the moment. In relation to this, we issued a warning to alert Japanese people residing in some Southeast Asian countries, but we cannot disclose the source,” it said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, on the other hand, stated that no official report on the threat had been received.
“The DFA has not been officially informed about this matter. Travel alerts for a country’s citizens are usually not officially notified to other countries, however, this type of information may have been shared among intelligence agencies,” DFA Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meñez told reporters.
AFP spokesperson, Col. Ramon Zagala also reassured that the Philippine government takes all allegations of possible terrorism-related operations seriously.
“We constantly validate all reports on security matters and it is a continuous process. As per last review our threat level is moderate,” he said.
“We ensure that all citizens, Filipinos or not, as long as they are within our territory, are protected and kept safe from terrorists’ threats. This is also to underscore the importance of the active participation of the populace in defeating terrorism since security is, after all, everyone’s concern,” he added.
According to sources, Japan’s Foreign Ministry cautioned its citizens in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar to avoid religious facilities and crowds after receiving information that “there are heightened threats such as suicide bombing”.
