He refused, however, to give further details stressing it may jeopardize the ongoing investigation into the bombing at a night market late Friday in southern Davao City – where President Rodrigo Duterte served 22 years as mayor.
Advertisement
The president said the Philippines was going through “extraordinary times” which was why he had made a decision to allow the security forces to conduct searches previously done exclusively by the police. “Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue”, Duterte told reporters before leaving for Laos.
Investigators on the scene discovered remnants of a mortar shell and additional indicators in a post-blast analysis that have determined that the explosion was the result of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
The President, who was in this area at the time of the attack, has declared a “state of lawlessness”.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Gordon on Sunday allayed fears of another martial law, saying what the President announced early Saturday morning was different.
Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Rami said the attack is a “call for unity to all mujahideen in the country”, ABS-CBN television news reports on its website.
The “state of lawless violence” falls short of “martial law”, Duterte said.
“They are doing this to sympathize (with) our group and we are sending a message to President Rodrigo Duterte that all the Daulat throughout the country is not afraid of him”, he said.
However Chief Inspector Andrea De la Cerna, spokeswoman of a task force investigating the explosion, said they were not ruling out other motives for the attack.
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.
“Unfortunately, we can not frisk or order people to stop because it would be fascistic”.
In the US, the White House has condemned the bombing and has issued a statement saying the USA “stands ready to provide assistance to the investigation”.
The city is part of the southern region of Mindanao, where Islamic militants have waged a decades-long separatist insurgency that has claimed more than 120,000 lives.
Mr Duterte has pursued a brutal anti-crime war since he took office on June 30. “This is just a stepped up campaign of the police and the military to ensure the safety of the general public”, Ablan said.
Advertisement
Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte – the president’s daughter – has offered a 2 million-peso ($43,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the bombers.
