According to Andanar, “I don’t have the declaration in front of me right now, but certainly there would be curfews in Mindanao, especially in Davao, in the Sulu [province], and Basilan”. “This is just a stepped up campaign of the police and the military to ensure the safety of the general public”, Ablan said. This declaration, while holding authority on its own, is still yet to be followed by a formal document that would further legitimize the president’s orders.
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For his part, George T. Barcelon, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the declaration was necessary in light of the threats.
“Businessmen like opportunity and they see opportunity whether in good times or in bad times”.
“First of all they can not invest easily here because of the lack of ease of doing business, there’s the economic restrictions, then there’s infrastructure problems. What is certainly true is that the issues of how we approach fighting crime and drug trafficking is a serious one for all of us, and we’ve got to do it the right way”.
Deputy Speaker Gloria Arroyo (Pampanga) defended Duterte’s declaration of state of lawlessness, saying she did it herself when she was president.
“Initial investigations show they found shrapnel from a mortar-based improvised explosive device”, Martin Andanar, Secretary of the Presidential Communications Office, told DZMM radio.
“What I’ve instructed my team to do is to talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out, is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations”, Obama said at a news conference at the end of a G20 summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
“I did not experience their being abusive and I don’t think they will be abusive now”.
Ms. Duterte Carpio also confirmed that while she still has “confidence” in the leadership of the DCPO director and the Task Force (TF) Davao commander, both will likely be replaced as “a natural consequence” of the bombing incident. “I did not need to tell her what to do”.
“When I used to have those problems in Mindanao, I would ask [then Davao City] Mayor Duterte to handle them for me. So if I can handle them, he can handle them even better”, she said.
Arroyo said the President’s decision to declare a state of lawlessness was the “right thing” to do in the face of threats from drug lords and the Abu Sayyaf, which earlier claimed responsibility for the Davao bombing. Richard Gordon condemned the “impunity and ignominy” of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, which is believed to be behind the attack, as he said “we are all pained by the carnage”.
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Ned Price, National Security Council spokesperson, released a statement condemning the attack and expressing condolences to the families of the victims.
