MALACAÑANG on Thursday allayed fears of an impending terror attack in Metro Manila, even as it confirmed reports that members of the Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI) continue to actively collaborate with the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda made the statement in a news briefing, when asked to comment on the assessment of Singapore-based intelligence analyst Rohan Gunarathna that about a dozen JI members are cooperating with the Abu Sayyaf in a plot to launch terrorist attacks in Mindanao and Metro Manila.

“The analysis in so far as JI is merging with the Abu Sayyaf is correct. That’s being done right now in Jolo, but there are no specific reports of any threat of these two groups coming to Manila…. There is no specific report as to any threats toward Metro Manila,” Lacierda said.

He said all information related to terrorist activity in the country “is being vetted by the intelligence community.”

“Everything is being vetted. According to [National Security] Secretary [Cesar] Garcia… all information whether scuttlebutt gossip are being investigated and vetted,” Lacierda said.

He said the Philippines is part of an information-sharing network in the anti-terror campaign in the region.

Military: No terrorist presence in Metro

THERE is no monitored presence of foreign and local terrorists and thus the whole of Metro Manila is safe, contrary to the claim of a Singaporean-based intelligence security analyst who exposed the preparations being made by the JI and the Abu Sayyaf to conduct bombings in some parts of the national seat of government and Mindanao, military spokesman Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. said on Thursday.

Asked if the metropolis is cleared of terrorist presence, Burgos said “yes” after citing the clarifications made earlier by Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (J-2)  Maj. Gen. Francisco Cruz Jr.

Cruz had clarified that there were only four JI personalities being monitored in Sulu and not 12 as claimed by Gunarathna, head of the management staff of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism-Singapore, during the informal meeting of Asean defense chiefs in Manila.

“We were monitoring at least four [JIs] but they come in and out of the country by using our porous borders with Malaysia and Indonesia. The most important thing here is that we continue to monitor and validate information,” Burgos told reporters.