Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday declared the country to be in a “state of lawlessness” following a blast in the city of Davao on Friday, in which the toll has risen to 14.
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Presidential Communications Operations secretary Martin Andanar said this was the consensus when President Duterte gathered his Cabinet security cluster, the police and military officials two days after the bomb attack killed 15 people and at least 70 injured.
He said it did not amount to an imposition of martial law, but would allow troops to be deployed in urban centers to back up the police in setting up checkpoints and increasing patrols.
“I and several of my co-workers saw two women enter the massage section, with one of them carrying a bag”, Dolida said in Filipino during the interview.
The death toll has risen to 14 while 67 were reported hurt in an explosion reportedly claimed by a terrorist organization allied with the bandit group Abu Sayyaf.
Dir. Gen. Ronald dela Rosa said police suspect the Abu Sayyaf was behind the attack, which he described as a “diversionary move” meant to “ease up the pressure that they have been experiencing in Sulu”. He was in Davao at the time of the bombing but far from the site of the blast outside a hotel where he often holds meetings.
Following President Dutertes order, close to 8,000 soldiers are hunting down Abu Sayyaf fighters in their lairs in Sulu and have so far killed nearly 30.
And past year the militants abducted three foreigners-two Canadians and Norwegian-from a resort near Davao and demanded large cash payments for their release.
Rumors have swirled of a plot to assassinate Duterte, 71, which he has shrugged off as part of his job. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. “As a matter of fact, America has one too many to answer for”, he said. However, it was unclear how the spokesman informed the radio station.
He also told the news agency that his father had been nowhere near the blast at the time.
“Unfortunately, we can not frisk or order people to stop because it would be fascistic”.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned President Barack Obama on Monday not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or “son of a bitch I will swear at you” when they meet in Laos during a regional summit.
The Philippine defense minister Delfin Lorenzan confirmed that the Abu Sayyaf militia is behind the explosion and that the attack was revenge for the many losses in the stronghold of Jolo, about 900 km from Davao, as a result of an offensive carried out by the special forces.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that the U.S. are prepared to offer assistance in the investigation as local authorities continue to investigate the cause of Friday’s deadly explosion.
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Davao is located in Mindanao, a large southern island beset by decades of Muslim insurgency.
