President Arroyo urged authorities to intensify the country’s security measures following the bombings that hit Indonesia last Friday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said that the President directed the Anti-Terrorism Council as well as national agencies to step up security measures during her visit to Mindanao.

Arroyo went straight to Cotabato City after attending the two-day Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Egypt, where she was spokesperson for the South East Asia region.

Fajardo appealed to the business community, particularly the hotel industry, to intensify their security measures so that the bombings that occurred in Indonesia will not happen in the Philippines.

“It is also good warning to the private [sector] to be prepared on their own in terms of security,” she said, adding that cooperation between the government and the private sector is much needed.

She said that public cooperation is essential, particularly in providing authorities information that would lead to the arrest of terrorists. “That would remain confidential,” Fajardo said.

The government criticized the suspects in the Indonesia bombings, saying that it “fully supports the efforts of the Indonesian government to effectively deal with this dark episode and to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

“These dastardly and inhumane acts all the more reinforce the need for vigilance and greater and deeper cooperation regionally and globally, to counter, prevent and suppress all acts of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo said in a statement.

The government also heaved a sigh of relief following reports from the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta reported that there were no Filipino casualties in the bombings.

The Indonesian government believes that the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the bombings at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and nearby Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.