RP, Israeli intelligence execs to hold confab

The intelligence officials from the Philippines and Israel are set to hold a three-day conference on anti-terrorism at the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) headquarters in Quezon City from May 29 to May 31.

The Israeli delegation, to be headed Maj. Gen. Uzi Dayan of the Israel National Security Council, is expected to brief local intelligence officials on the latest movements, activities and plans of international terrorist groups.

"Definitely there would be information exchanges from both sides," a source from the local intelligence community said.

Sources said Dayan will also brief National Security Adviser Roilo Golez on the condition of Filipino workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the continuing clashes between Israeli and Palestinian security forces.

Recently, police rounded up several Jordanians and Indonesians that have been suspected of being terrorists or having links with the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.

The three-day conference is part of heightened cooperation between the two countries after Israeli commandos visited the country recently to train local police units in anti-terrorist tactics at the Subic Freeport in Zambales.

Last year, several Filipino police officers were also sent to Israel to undergo training on anti-terrorism, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States.

The conference will start a day after Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza meets with other Southeast Asian police chiefs for an annual security conference in Cambodia.

Chiefs of police from nine member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to attend to exchange notes on their anti-terrorist operations.

Other matters to be discussed in the conference include illegal drugs, transnational commercial fraud and fraudulent documents use, among others.

Delegates will also discuss an exchange of personnel and training programs and a creation of a crime database for the ASEAN Chiefs of Police which will be meeting in Phnom Penh.