Australia, Canada to reopen embassies in new sites

The embassies of Canada, Australia and the European Union, which shut down recently due to alleged terrorist threats, are slated to reopen soon but in new locations, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said.

Ople said the Canadian, Australian and EU ambassadors have assured him that "they are maintaining their essential consular services at alternative sites such as the residence of the ambassador and certain hotel groups in Makati."

The missions closed on Nov. 28 allegedly due to "credible" terrorist threats, taking the Philippine government by surprise, which said stepped up security across Metro Manila has minimized the possibility of terrorist attacks.

Government officials have insisted there were no threats and called the embassy closures an overreaction that harmed the country’s image as a safe investment and tourist destination.

"Both the Canadian and Australian ambassadors have seen me in the last few days to brief me on the preparations for the reopening of their embassies," Ople said, adding that the missions would reopen "in a few days."

He did not say where the embassies will relocate.

Earlier, Canadian Ambassador Robert Collette said "there was still a credible terrorist threat" to his country’s embassy in Makati City and that it would remain closed indefinitely.

He refused to acknowledge that his embassy had closed down based on raw intelligence information from Manila police officer Superintendent George Gaddi.

Collette said Ottawa made its own assessment of the specific and credible threat to the embassy.

Gaddi was suspended the other day as Manila police intelligence chief for allegedly leaking the intelligence report to the Canadian and Australian embassies.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane said Gaddi could be demoted or dismissed depending on the findings of an investigation.

Collette refused to comment on the relief of Gaddi, and said he did not know him. The Australian embassy also had no comment on Gaddi’s suspension.

Security was stepped up across the country following a string of bomb attacks in October, mostly in Zamboanga City, blamed on Islamic militant groups.

Among the suspect groups is Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist network allegedly allied to al-Qaeda. The October bombings as well as the deadly car bomb attack in Bali, Indonesia, highlighted the global terrorist threat.

The Philippines has convicted and jailed two Indonesian men believed to be top Jemaah Islamiyah operatives for illegal possession of explosives.

One of them is Fathur Rohman al-Ghozie, who has been linked to the Dec. 30, 2000, Rizal Day bombings in Metro Manila that killed 22 people and injured more than a hundred others.

In the wake of the Bali bombing, Australian Prime Minister John Howard declared two weeks ago he would order preemptive strikes overseas if there was no alternative means of saving Australia from terrorist attacks, provoking regional outrage.

Although he did not name any countries, the strongest criticism came from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and, to a lesser extent, Thailand.

The United States backed Howard, saying Southeast Asian nations should "better police themselves" to make preemptive strikes against terrorism unnecessary.

Australia is one of Washington’s staunchest allies in its stand-off with Iraq.