BY RAYMOND AFRICA

A FOREIGN national was arrested "outside of Metro Manila" Wednesday in connection with a supposed plot to assassinate President Arroyo, PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr. said yesterday.

Razon said the suspect has links with the Abu Sayyaf and the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah.

He declined to give the suspect’s identity and details of the arrest. He said the suspect is undergoing tactical interrogation.

He said he was not supposed to disclose the arrest but was forced to because of speculations that the checkpoints put up by the police at entry points to Metro Manila were meant to harass participants in the Makati interfaith rally from the provinces.

He also said the arrest proved that a slay plot targeting President Arroyo was not concocted to give the President an excuse not to go to Baguio for the Philippine Military Academy alumni homecoming February 16.

However, on that same day, she was in Binalonan, Pangasinan, about 65 kilometers from Baguio City.

Military and police officials on February 14 bared the alleged slay plot, claiming they have stumbled on a document written in Arabic containing sketches and pictures of foreign embassies in Metro Manila, and information on the scheduled trips of the President.

Police said the document which might have been left by its owner was found by a security guard in a parking lot in an undisclosed site in Metro Manila.