Malacañang Thursday said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita will be the point man authorized to speak on the security situation of country as it activated its Anti-Terrorism Task Force to address and look into the spate of bombings in troubled Southern Philippines.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde and deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said Ermita has been tasked to provide “authoritative pronouncements” to shed light on the current security situation, which has been rocked by bombings in the South Remonde said the new designation was made shortly after the command conference led by the President Arroyo on Tuesday afternoon as he rejected reports that Metro Manila went on red alert following the spate of bombings in the troubled southern Philippines.

“We agreed that all the authoritative pronouncements on a situation like this should come from Executive Secretary Ermita, and from no one else in order to avoid confusion and in order to avoid false messages," he said in a radio interview.

In a press briefing, Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez told reporters that the Palace has activated the Anti-Terrorism Task Force which is headed by Ermita to prepare for a “worst” case scenario and to give the public “peace of mind.”

“The Task Force has been activated to make sure that everybody is safe. The government would want to give the citizens peace of mind that they need,” he said.

“We prepare for the worst for anything that would inflict harm in our community,” he added.

Remonde said police and military authorities could also make pronouncements as long as their information is “clear, confirmed and verified.”

Contrary to earlier reports, he said the authorities have declared “heightened alert” status and not red alert as earlier reported in the newspapers.

He said if the authorities went on red alert, “we will see Marines on the streets. (We are) only on heightened alert, meaning the troops are ready.”

He said the public will expect “some deployment” if the security troops are on red alert.

On calls to investigate the intelligence funds, Remonde said such funds would not shield the country from terrorist acts even as he explained that even powerful countries, including US were attacked by terrorists. “We have 7,000 islands. Even is we are saying that we have intelligence fund, that is not a guarantee that we could effectively prevent any at all terrorist attacks.”