ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – President Aquino ordered the police and military here to tighten security in the area to make it hard for terrorists to attack local targets following the deadly car bombing that killed two persons and wounded 54 others last Friday.
Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said Aquino issued his directive during his closed door meeting with security officials during his visit here last Sunday to assess the security situation.
“The President gave his directive on target hardening. The President would want the security leaders to come up with the protocol of security measures of the city,” Salazar told a local radio here.
Salazar said Aquino ordered the police and military to make an integrated multi-sectoral defense task force in coordination with the local government unit.
Salazar said she told the President that the real objective of the bombing in Barangay Guiwan was to create a diversion so that the Abu Sayyaf could initiate a jailbreak at the Zamboanga City Jail to free the 57 detained Abu Sayyaf members.
She has sought the assistance of Justice Secretary Laila de Lima to transfer the Abu Sayyaf detainees from the Zamboanga City Jail to a more secure detention center.
Meanwhile, investigators invited a police officer who was implicated in the bombing.
A source told The STAR Police Officer 3 Madjid Mualam, who is currently taking up Police Intelligence Course Mobile Training at the Sulu provincial police office, is now being investigated.
The source said the car used in the bombing was seen at the garage of the house of Mualam prior to the blast. Police, however, could not yet disclose the name of the registered owner of the vehicle.
The STAR learned that Mualam was taken from a house in Jolo, Sulu. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe