Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte declared on Saturday a “state of lawlessness ” in the country after an explosion in a marketplace killed 14 people in his home city of Davao while he was on a routine weekend visit there.
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Advising airports users not to be alarmed by the increase of police visibility in the area, Monreal said that motor vehicles will be randomly subject to rigid inspections at all checkpoint areas.
Police in the Philippines are looking for a man and two women they want to question in connection with the blast at a crowded market in Davao City that killed 14 people.
The blast tore through a street market outside the high-end Marco Polo hotel, a frequent haunt of Duterte, who was in the southern city of Davao at the time but was not hurt.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Friday night’s attack at a Davao City market, urging liability and justice. He pledged to kill 100,000 criminals and dump so many in Manila Bay that the “fish will grow fat” from feeding on them.
“We are facing a faceless enemy, and the best way is to get our act together as government and as one people”, he said.
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf – armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles – has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.
“I would like to remind other officials to stay within the bounds of their official duties according to their position”, she said.
Police have yet to disclose details of their initial investigation, but Davao Mayor Sarah Duterte – the president’s daughter – said in a television interview it was a bomb.
Andanar mentioned the possible involvement of the Islamist militant Abu Sayyaf group or drug lords, according to ABS-CBN.
But at the same time, anything that can happen under the state of lawlessness can be blamed on him. Widely used official figures point out that since Duterte came to the power on June 30 approximately 2,400 persons died in anti-drug operations of the police.
Obama will have an opportunity to offer his personal condolences to Duterte, with the two leaders planning to meet on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders in Laos next week, Price said. “At least we know who made the threats”.
Ablan noted that the state of emergency was unofficially in place since the terrorist attack last Saturday, but that it took several days to finalize the language in the declaration. The group, which remains outside the country’s sputtering peace process, has the stated aim of establishing an independent Islamic state on the southern island of Mindanao, on which Davao City is located.
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Delfin Lorenzana, the defence secretary, said the group was attempting to gain revenge for heavy losses.
