Manila: Philippine forces intensified security at Manila's United States Embassy as militant groups prepared rallies to protest the presence of a US warship which carried the body of Osama Bin Laden for a deep-sea burial at the North Arabian Sea, following his death in Pakistan last May 2.
More police personnel were brought to the United States Embassy along Roxas Boulevard before militant groups could hold pickets there, Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo, spokesman of the Manila Police District, said in a radio interview, adding that beefed up security will last until the end of USS Carl Wilson's Manila visit on Thursday.
The policemen were instructed to exercise maximum tolerance in handling crowd control, said Margarejo
Meanwhile, the 42-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in a statement that the US carrier's visit which began on Sunday was "a shameless display of master-puppet relationship [between the United States and the Philippines]".
"It would appear that [President Benigno] Aquino was summoned by the US government, which had him flown to the US carrier, bypassing standard diplomatic procedures [during his tour of the USS Carl Vinson last Sunday]," the CPP added.
At the same time, Worker's Party secretary general Judy Ann Miranda said that Aquino's visit to the USS Carl Vinson last Sunday "cannot be an innocent tour," adding that Aquino and US authorities held important talks during the tour.
"Such a top secret agenda [as discussed by the US and the Philippines] in the middle of the high seas could be anything from more concessions about American access to Philippines as per the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) to increased US intervention in the war against insurgents [in the southern Philippines] as a follow through to Bin Laden's assassination," Miranda said.
"This is a big issue despite attempts [at the presidential office] to downplay the event as a tour and douse the fire of speculation about [what happened during] the incident," Miranda said.
Her group has called for the scrapping of the Philippines-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the basis of large-scale war games between Manila and Washington that began in the late 90s.
The group also warned Filipino women to be careful about being rape by US servicemen during their rest and recreation visit in Manila.
"[We are] preparing for protest actions against the four-day visit of the USS Carl Vinson. [We also warn] at a repeat of the Subic rape case with thousands of US servicemen due to have rest and recreation in the country," Miranda's group said on its website.
During Aquino's four-hour tour at the US aircraft carrier, no one discussed the use of the ship as Bin laden's hearse after his death in Pakistan on May 2, said Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Strategic Planning and Development Office.
"Honestly, nobody mentioned it. We were aware that there had been media reports. There had been no confirmation from the US authorities. We didn't turn it into an issue. We didn't ask it. We were just touring the ship," he said.
At the same time, he said he was sure there would be no backlash from terrorists because of the ship's visit in Manila.
The US Navy Seal killed bin Laden on his hideout in Islamabad on May 2.
In the 90s, the brother-in-law of the Al Qaida chief was the one who allegedly established non-government organizations in the southern Philippines that funded the Abu Sayyaf group.
The Abu Sayyaf has links with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.
It was behind several kidnap-for-ransom, beheadings, bombings and other terror activities in the south and in Metro Manila.
