Task force to probe Davao market explosion

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities are looking at various security threat groups as possible perpetrators of the Davao City bombing on Friday night despite the Abu Sayyaf’s claim that it was responsible for the attack.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II announced yesterday he would form a task force composed of the best prosecutors and operatives of the department and the National Bureau of Investigation, respectively, to probe the incident.

Col. Edgard Arevalo, Armed Forces of the Philippines-Public Affairs Office chief, said it was expected of the Abu Sayyaf to make such a claim but they were not buying it without an investigation being completed.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said for now, authorities could only assume the carnage was perpetrated by the homegrown terrorist group in retaliation for their heavy casualties in Jolo, Sulu over the past weeks.

Officials said 15 people were killed while 71 were injured in the night market explosion that occurred four kilometers away from the house of President Duterte, who declared a state of lawlessness in the country to thwart other possible attacks. 

The President, who was in the city when the incident happened, waged an all-out war against the Abu Sayyaf and illegal drugs, acknowledging the extrajudicial killings being perpetrated in the course of the war against drugs.

Pending results of the investigation, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said that all threat groups, including the Maute terror group that already pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), were considered suspects.

The police is also looking at the possible involvement of narco-terrorism in the Davao blast as well as by rivalries among vendors in the night market.

Aguirre said they would be coordinating with other law enforcement agencies conducting parallel investigation to immediately identify and bring to justice whoever was responsible for the blast.

“There is just no word for this dastardly and cowardly act. We will act with dispatch,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre also aims to raise funds for the families of the victims and will jumpstart the project with his personal funds.

He called on other employees of the Department of Justice and its attached agencies to support the cause and conduct their own fund raising drives.

Diversionary tactic

The Davao bombing, some reports claimed, was carried out by the Abu Sayyaf bandits as diversionary tactic to ease ongoing military and police pressure against them in Sulu and Basilan.

Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Rami said in a radio interview yesterday their group carried out the bomb attack to show Duterte that they were not afraid of him.

Local police in Davao reported that a number of those injured in the blast that took place near Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao University and a five-star hotel were still in critical condition in various hospitals in the city.

Lorenzana said government troops were warned accordingly as regards the possibility of retaliatory attacks “but the enemy is also adept at using the democratic space granted by our Constitution to move around freely and unimpeded to sow terror.”

Dela Rosa, for his part, said “a thorough technical investigation is under way by our post-blast investigation and crime laboratory examiners.”