Mumbai Thoughts: Is Manila a Sitting Duck?

AUSTRALIA'S Sydney Morning Herald carried a disturbing item recently about the vulnerability of its mass transportation systems to terrorist attacks like the recent deadly coordinated train blasts in Mumbai, India. This article got me to thinking about the City of Manila and its own vulnerability to terrorist attacks, which was already demonstrated in the December 30, 2000 bombing of Manila's LRT-1 line which killed several dozen passengers. There was also the sinking of Super Ferry 14 on February 26, 2004 by an Abu Sayyaf/Rajah Suleiman Movement bomb smuggled on board. Over 120 people died in this worst ever terror attack on the Philippines. Strangely enough, because it occurred at the start of the 2004 election campaign period, the president chose to call the thing "the work of pranksters" -- as TIME Magazine here relates it. The authorities waited until AFTER the elections to admit that Super Ferry 14 was a terrorist attack. But now, take a look at this Google Map (all the Zoom-N-Pan and Option controls work, plus you can grab and drag the map around at any point.) If you'd rather look at volcanoes today go to Google Mogul, my Science website.

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[1] The field of view contains at least three high value terrorist targets in the middle of the City of Manila. Near the center of the Map is Nagtahan Bridge as it crosses the Pasig River, which snakes its oily green way horizontally across the map. Immediately east of the bridge, south of the river, you will observe the PANDACAN OIL DEPOT, with its numerous oil and gasoline storage tanks (each of the round white objects contains tens of thousands of liter of oil or fuel. To get an idea how big each storage tank is, compare the width of each one to the fourlane bridge nearby!). Immediately west of the bridge, on both sides of the river, are the MALACANANG PRESIDENTIAL PALACE grounds. Immediately north of the bridge, you will see the LRT-2 Light Railway Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) which carries thousands of passengers daily. One of the trains is visible after pulling out of a nearby train station. Boarding passengers, usually only the women, have their handbags checked by poking a small wooden stick into them. And of course all around this highly combustible situation are slums, ghettos, businesses, homes and markets. But it isn't like this is some kind of secret. The continued existence of the Pandacan Oil Depot, is a major, tragic disaster waiting to happen. Meanwhile the top officials of the Philippine government and the military top brass, are currently engaged in a political theatre of survival against an opposition that, like a hydra, apparently has heads in the elite Military units, in the Senate, in the House, in the Catholic Bishops Conference, in the Media, in the Academe, in Civil Society, among the NGOs of students, workers, and peasants from the Left, Right and Center, and even former Cabinet officials. So many Enemies the State has now, that on Monday when the President's offers her State of the Nation Address, she will be separated from her people by a planned 20,000 loyal(?) troops.

[2] Earlier this week, Manila Police Chief Vidal N. Querol warned that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport's main runways present flight paths that cross heavily populated, and little secured surroundings, including slums and a major North-South Highway, the South Luzon Expressway. He has asked the public to report "suspicious activities by people carrying long, shoulder carried things."

[3] The third map available above shows the Philippine Congress' Batasan Complex area, where the President will deliver her SONA on Monday. The house on Adler Street in Filinvest II, where the six Magdalo escapees were reportedly found and recaptured last week is within the field of view, from my comparison with street maps. This is said to confirm the intelligence gathered from documents captured from the fugitives indicating they were going "to bomb the Batasan complex" this Monday...Or so the story goes as it is being spun through "leaks" and "reports" and "affidavits" through an avid Media led by ABSCBN News.