President Duterte visits the night market on Roxas Avenue in Davao City where 14 people were killed and 68 others injured after an explosion tore through what Davaoeños call their happy place. (Malacañang Photo)
Do not be afraid, but be alert.” That is Malacañang’s advice to Filipinos after a blast left 14 people dead in Davao City.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, in an interview with Radyo ng Bayan, said the public should “continue with (their) lives” while helping authorities with reports of suspicious activities.
“We are facing a faceless enemy, and the best way is to get our act together as government and as one people,” he said.
Andanar said the fight against terrorists is everyone’s fight. “This is the fight of the entire country.”
After the explosion in the night market on Friday evening, there were reports of a transmission tower bombed in North Cotabato and the Polomolok vice mayor’s house damaged by a hand grenade explosion in South Cotabato.
“With what happened ay it is apparent that terrorism and terrorist acts will happen and they happen during the most unsuspecting times. So we just really have to be careful,” the secretary said.
Asked if the Davao City attack had anything to do with President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs, Andanar said,”We cannot deny the fact that we also have enemies (among) the drug lords. And we cannot deny it that these drug lords are also well funded, and they have their own nefarious interest to protect.”
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.
The Abu Sayyaf earlier said that an allied group was behind the bombing.
“We have to accept the fact that our government is on (a) serious war against illegal drugs and serious war against terrorism in Sulu, in Basilan, and these terrorists will always find a way to retaliate,” Andanar said.
The secretary said that Filipinos should “not be cowed by the terrorists.”
“We continue with what we do because if we stop what we’re doing, it’s like the terrorists won already,” he said.
Police on Sunday were searching for three people wanted for questioning on the bombing of a night market in President Rodrigo Duterte’s home town blamed on a notorious group of Islamic militants.
The blast, which tore through a bustling market in the heart of Davao City on Friday, killed at least 14 people and led to the President imposing a “state of lawlessness” on the country.
Police are searching for two women and one man for questioning on the bombing, which has been widely blamed on the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group, said Chief Inspector Andrea de la Cerna on Sunday.