MANILA, Aug. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippine capital police was placed under heightened alert following a bombing attack on a passenger vessel in the southern Philippines leaving at least 30 injured, a local TV reported Monday.

    According to the ABS-CBN news channel, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), has deployed additional policemen tosecure the vital establishments in Metro Manila, including railway system, which was attacked by terrorists years ago.

    NCRPO chief director Vidal Querol told the TV that checkpoints are already in place on every entry point leading to Metro Manila.

    The military has confirmed that the ferry blast on Sunday morning in Lamitan, Basilan, was caused by a home-made bomb, which has been usually used by the Abu Sayyaf rebels. However, nobody has so far claimed the responsibility for the attack.

    The Abu Sayyaf has been responsible for the bloodiest terrorist attacks in the country, including the bombing of a passenger ferry off Manila bay in February 2004 and the bomb attacks in Makati, Davao, and General Santos on Feb. 14.

    Meanwhile, in view of the alert of a senior official from SouthKorea's National Intelligence Service that the terrorist group of the al-Qaeda has placed the Philippines, South Korea and Japan on its list of secondary targets after the United States, Britain and Australia, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Sunday advised the public to remain vigilant.

    "We should be prepared always. The public should remain vigilant while we continue to intensify our intelligence operations," Cruz told reporters before the news broke of the ferry explosion.

    On the other hand, the government Sunday reiterated its urgency to Congress for the immediate passage of an anti-terrorism law as the response to the South Korean intelligence official's alert.

    Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye told reporters that the government should be equipped with the legal tools to more adequately defend the country against terrorist cells. Enditem