US Embassy in Manila under tight security

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday heightened their presence outside the Embassy of the United States in Manila following the directive of US President Barack Obama to all embassy officials abroad to increase their own security.

The Philippine government has already assured the safety of the US Embassy and its diplomats serving in the country as anti-US attacks staged by Muslim communities around the globe continue.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told GMA News Online that the government guarantees the safety of US officials in the country and no need not flee.

“Of course envoys and US Embassy personnel in the Philippines don’t need to flee,” she said in an interview “There’s no such danger against them in Manila and the Philippines. The government can guarantee the safety of the US Embassy.”

The behavior of the Muslim communities in the country, Valte said, should not cause alarm to the US embassy.

“Our (Muslim brothers) behave with civility and sobriety and goodwill,” she said

Muslim communities around the globe are conducting anti-US protests against the movie “Innocence of Muslim” shown on YouTube. The American-produced amateur film depicted prophet Muhammadas a womanizer.

According to ABS-CBN News, Muslims considered the movie blasphemous, sacrilegious and offensive to their culture and belief.

Local political analysts view the rocket attack against the embassy in Benghazi as one of the most violent acts triggered by the controversial film. US Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other embassy staff died in the attack.

Condemning the attack, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said: “It was a serious violation of longstanding norms of international law with deep historical roots that diplomatic and consular agents are not to be harmed and that the diplomatic and consular premises are inviolable."

A SITE Intelligence Group reported on Saturday that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula called for more violence against US diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa, and urged Muslims in the West to attack US interests.

The Philippine government is unlikely to request Google to restrict the access of Filipinos to the controversial film on Google-owned video sharing site, according to Valte.

She said in a statement that she does not see the anti-Islam video affecting the consciousness of Muslims in the country.

“In the entire two years and odd number of months that President Benigno Aquino III has been in office, the administration has never asked to take down anything,” Valte said

Reports said Muslim countries like Indonesia, Libya, Egypt, and India, Google had already blocked access to the anti-Islamic film.