Members of the extremist group Hamas tried to infiltrate the Philippines in 2018 to spread their brand of terrorism in the country, the National Security Council, or NSC, disclosed on Monday.
NSC Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in a televised briefing Monday that a Hamas explosives expert was, in fact, arrested by the police and immediately deported to Turkey five years ago.
Malaya said another Hamas operative thereafter met with local terrorist groups to make the country a base of operation for extremists. "The good news is that we were able to stop them with the help of other countries," Malaya said in the vernacular.

The NSC official cited a plan of the government to designate Hamas  as a terrorist organization in the country "to protect our countrymen" and "ensure the security of our people."

Once designated as a terrorist group under the Anti-Terrorist Act of 2020, Malaya said it would be easier for local authorities to arrest members of Hamas should they try again to enter the Philippines.

"We can immediately arrest them without a warrant, we can detain them for a certain period of time, and one thing that will be halted is the so-called terrorist financing," he added.

Safe haven

Meanwhile,  concerns have been raised over a plan to allow into the Philippines the Palestinian spouses of Filipino women who are trying to escape the fighting in Gaza.

According to an intelligence officer interviewed by DAILY TRIBUNE,  Palestinians who would be allowed to join their repatriated spouses should be properly investigated to ensure they are not members of Hamas.

"We cannot provide a safe haven for terrorists who might take advantage of the plan to repatriate our nationals out of Gaza," the intel officer said in Filipino.

Last 7 October, Hamas bolted out of their Gaza Strip enclave and attacked neighboring Israeli communities, killing nearly 2,000 people since then, mostly civilians, including three Filipinos and several other foreigners.

In retaliation, Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes, with the death toll nearing 3,000 as of Monday.  The Israeli Defense Force has massed 300,000 soldiers and armor for a ground attack on Gaza, with a million people leaving the enclave.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said the over 100 Filipinos trapped in Gaza would be repatriated by the government once Israel allows a humanitarian corridor to be opened for fleeing civilians.

Hamas forces, according to reports filtering out of Gaza, are preventing Palestinians from leaving Gaza in order to use them as human shields as they hunker down in their tunnels to await the Israeli ground assault.

Palestinian question

The Philippine government has raised Alert Level 4 over Gaza, ordering the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos from there.

Malaya explained that designating Hamas as a terrorist organization would also allow the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze the assets of its sympathizers in the Philippines.

The terrorist tag would also serve as a "clear message" that the Philippine government is serious about combating both internal and external security threats, as well as protecting Filipinos from the harm brought by terrorism.

"We do not intend to resolve the Palestinian question. It has long been their problem and we are not telling them that we could solve their issues. Our planned declaration of Hamas as a terrorist organization in the Philippines is for our own national interest, so they wouldn't be able to operate here," Malaya stressed.

"This is not an instigation of the US or the State of Israel. We  are doing it, again, because of our national interest," he said.

Meanwhile, Marcos assured the families of the three Filipinos slain in Israel that they would be provided assistance by the government.

"There is assistance available for the families, and we will do everything that needs to be done to bring (your siblings) home first," Marcos said. "But we are waiting to see the situation in Israel because it's really chaotic right now and everything is closed."

Of the 137 Filipinos living in Gaza, 92 have asked to be repatriated. Eight of them were supposed to fly home yesterday.

An OFW from Cagayan de Oro City who works in Israel said yesterday they were using a phone app that allows the Israeli government to alert them about incoming rockets.

Jocel Manresa said they monitor attacks using the missile alert app so that they can seek refuge in bomb shelters until the attack is over.

"When a missile attack is launched towards Israel our cellphones issue an alert  and tell us what areas are targeted," Manresa said.

The app Red Alert: Rocket Alerts was developed by Elad Nava.

With Tiziana celine Piatos and Perseus Echeminada