“We’d like to believe that there is no connection between the travel advisories and the review of the VFA,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday over radio station dzRB.

The Senate ratified the VFA in 1999 during the Estrada administration amid concerns in some quarters that it might infringe on the country’s sovereignty.

The accord allowed the return of US troops to the Philippines in 2002, or a decade after they left their two military bases in the country, then the biggest outside the continental US.

Malacañang, meanwhile, also reiterated its appeal to foreign countries to be more circumspect in issuing travel warnings even as it vowed not to belittle any threats to security.

Valte said President Aquino’s “displeasure” was over the government’s not getting prior notice of the issuance of the advisories, despite the Philippines’ being a major ally in the global war on terror.

On Friday, France joined the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in issuing travel warnings to their citizens in the Philippines, citing imminent terror attack.

Valte said Mr. Aquino would like to take up the matter with the other leaders during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Japan even if the Department of Foreign Affairs had already communicated the country’s concerns to the foreign governments.

“We have reasons to believe, as the President has already said, that the basis for the travel advisories is not as solid as we would like. Well, we think it’s disputable - it’s something to that effect that we’re as concerned about the safety of the visitors who come to the country as well as our citizens,” she said.

“But, you know, we maintain the reaction that the issuance of these travel advisories on disputable basis is merely an overreaction on the part of the sources of the advisories,” Valte said.

Valte said it must be noted that the Philippines had already tightened security even before the alleged threat to the US had been uncovered following the deadly bus bombing in Cotabato on Oct. 21.

“As our people can see now, we don’t take these things lightly - we have taken measures already to tighten security. You’ve seen it all around,” Valte said. ?

“Even the MRT (Metro Rail Transit) and the LRT (Light Rail Transit) have also imposed tighter security. Our police have been on alert since the Cotabato bus bombing. So, again, it’s just a call for vigilance also on the part of our people. It’s a dissonance in terms of our own safety and the safety of those around us,” Valte said.

Valte said that while the President has already called for everyone to be vigilant, his administration remains convinced that “the advisories are based on raw reports that affected the country in a negative way.”

She said authorities were on top of the situation and would do everything to ensure the safety of everyone in the country.

“Whether they would stand by their advisories or not, I would not like to make that as an automatic indication that their basis for issuing (advisories) was solid,” Valte said.

Valte declined to say whether the country was a victim of power play or being singled out by powerful governments.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs is already taking care (of the situation), is already elevating our concerns. We understand that there are procedures to be followed in cases like this. But, that being said, we still stand by our position that this is an overreaction to basis that is not as solid and is disputable as far as we’re concerned,” she said.

Next front?

Deluged with travel warnings from the US and its major western allies, the Philippines may be emerging as the next front in the global war on terror, according to former senator Aquilino Pimentel.

He said foreign mercenaries might be plotting terror attacks that would be blamed on local Muslim extremists to justify a shift in strategy by the US and its allies in their battle against Islamic militants.

“If there is no actual threat of terrorism within the country, it could come from outside,” Pimentel told The STAR.

Pimentel said the issuance of the travel alerts rekindled memories of bomb attacks in early 2002 and the eventual arrest of American citizen Michael Terrence Meiring, an alleged mercenary who lost a foot when a bomb he was allegedly assembling in his Davao City hotel room exploded prematurely.

Meiring was secretly spirited away from a local hospital by US agents and airlifted to San Diego, California.

The Davao hotel explosion came amid rumors of an imminent terror attack in the country.

Pimentel said the case against Meiring never prospered and the demand for his turnover to the Philippines were ignored.

A political officer of the former senator theorized that with the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and the downsizing of the troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Philippines could be the next front in the global war against terrorism.

“Saddam is gone, Bin Laden is nowhere to be found, and the terror war in Afghanistan is waning. The next logical target is the Philippines, particulary Mindanao,” he said.

Aurea Calica, Philippine Star