Acting on a tip-off the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation on September 1, arrested a group of 3 terrorists aged 43, 22 and 25  years led by a man named Grandeur Guerrero, as they were about to plant a petrol bomb in a toilet in the car park of Terminal 3 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The men allegedly planned to place three other bombs in the toilets of the nearby Mall of Asia. After setting off the bombs the three planned to drive past the Embassy of China and shoot at the building. They planned a similar strafing run at the offices of the DMCI construction firm, a company with close links to China.

Grandeur Guerrero told arresting officers he was a "general" of USAFFE - the United States Armed Forces in the Far East, a second world war military formation in the Philippines. The three individuals worked as security guards for a textile company just outside Manila,