“He stands with the Government and people of the Philippines”, the statement read.
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She said the three “persons of interest” being sought were not yet considered suspects, but would not give further details. “They were pale like dead already”.
In declaring the state of lawlessness, Duterte said it “would require nationwide, well-coordinated efforts of the military and the police”. “We have raised our alert status as a proactive measure to ensure safety and security of airport users”, said Manila International Airport Authority general manager Ed Monreal, as quoted by PIA.
However the leader has been largely prized for having ended an armed conflict with communist guerrillas that lasted nearly five decades and killed at least 70,000 people.
Police have insisted they only act in self-defence and say the other murders are carried out by drug syndicates trying to silence their members. A police official said at least 30 people had been hospitalized.
Obama will have an opportunity to offer his personal condolences to Duterte when the two leaders plan to meet on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders with some Western leaders in Laos next week, Price said.
He said drug lords are usually “part of the menu of suspects” that they have but in the case of the Davao City bombing, Duterte believes that there is higher probability that terrorists are behind it.
At least 71 people were injured in the explosion Friday night at a market in Davao, a city Duterte led as mayor for 22 years before he assumed the presidency.
The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for their multi-million dollar hostage business in the jungles of Mindanao’s Jolo and Basilan islands, have been on the receiving end of sustained military operations of late.
Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reports that Mayor of Davao city Sara Duterte told reporters that the suspect was in the night market along Roxas Avenue, and was later taken up for questioning. Duterte promised that 100,000 drug dealers would be killed in his first six months in office; since then, the country has seen a spike in both police shootings and summary executions by shadowy vigilantes.
With an estimated 400 members, Abu Sayyaf’s jihadists have been waging an insurgency in the Philippines since the early 1990s with the aim of creating a regional Islamic state. He said Daulat did it to sympathize with the Abu Sayyaf, which is being pursued by thousands of soldierss in Sulu.
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But Duterte has told the United Nations not to interfere and said he will use all means necessary to eradicate drugs in society, which he insists is the nation’s biggest problem.
