President Rodrigo Duterte looks at the belongings of victims during his visit of a blast site at a market in Davao City, Philippines September 3, 2016.
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Authorities said the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of militants that has declared allegiance to the Islamic State group, most likely carried out the attack in response to a military offensive launched against it last week.
Police chief Ronald dela Rosa has also regularly said the unexplained deaths are due to drug syndicates waging war against each other, rather than extrajudicial killings by vigilantes and others.
“It’s not martial law but I am inviting now the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military and the police to run the country in accordance with my specifications”, he said, according to CNN Philippines.
Duterte said a state of lawlessness would be in effect “until such time I say it’s time to lift it”.
Meanwhile, the blood center of the Davao City Chapter of the Philippine Red Cross asked the public not to panic saying there is still a sufficient amount of stock blood units. “It is unfortunate we can not stop and frisk anybody for just any reason”, he said.
Aside from Faeldon, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) director Alex Paul Monteagudo was also in Davao with the President.
After some confusion over the coverage of the President’s declaration, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified the declaration covers the entire country.
For his part, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a known close friend of President Duterte, said the government is within its right to annihilate the Abu Sayyaf bandits with all the government’s resources.
“Terrorism abounds everywhere… in the USA, in Russian Federation”, he said. “Only if there is invasion or rebellion, and when public safety requires it, can he suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or declare martial law”, he clarified.
The statesman will remain in the country to monitor the government’s response to manage the impact of the bombing, he added. As Dabawenyos let us continue to care for one another as brothers and sisters.
Since Duterte took office just over two months ago, the government said more than 2,400 people have been killed in his anti-crime crusade, an increasingly controversial campaign that has drawn United Nations condemnation. We have enough heartache already.
Manila’s airport has also been placed on full alert, general manager Ed Montreal said.
Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana said the Abu Sayyaf had struck back after sustaining heavy casualties on its stronghold of Jolo Island about 900km from Davao.
Davao is the biggest city in the southern region of Mindanao, with a population of about two million people.
Suspicion among top officials in Duterte’s administration has centred on Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic State-linked group against which the military has stepped up operations after a series of piracy incidents and high-profile murders of Western hostages captured worldwide attention.
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“May there be no more loss of lives among those who were injured and are now in the hospitals”, he said.
