Duterte heightens terror alert

DAVAO CITY — Acting on fresh intelligence reports of a supposed new wave of terror attacks, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte raised the alert level here a notch higher to "orange," the second highest in a scale of five security alerts, over the weekend.

Text messages on Duterte’s move swamped cellular phones in the city, as the mayor publicly announced the heightened terror alert.

"We have not let our guard down. We have always been on the lookout for these terrorists but we call on the people to be really extra vigilant," Duterte said.

He called on city residents to watch out for suspicious-looking individuals and unattended packages in areas considered targets for terrorist attacks.

Early last year, this southern metropolis was rocked by twin bombings that left 39 people dead and over 200 others wounded.

Scores of churchgoers were killed and wounded during the bombing of the San Pedro Cathedral on the Sunday after Christmas Day of 1993. The church was also bombed on Easter Sunday of 1983, resulting in several fatalities.

Duterte reportedly met with officers of the Southern Mindanao police command and the military-led Task Force Davao to discuss the intelligence reports on the new terror threats.

"I cannot divulge what exactly is the basis of the intelligence reports. The mayor has his own sources other than the police and the military," Chief Superintendent Isidro Lapeña, Southern Mindanao police director, said.

Col. Gaudencio Pangilinan, Task Force Davao commander, said the city continues to face terror threats even a year after the task force was created in the aftermath of the powerful blast that ripped through a row of food stalls outside the Sasa wharf’s passenger terminal, killing 17 people and wounding 79 others.

"The threats still remain and we continue to work on ‘hardening’ what are considered to be soft targets of terrorists," Pangilinan said.

Lapeña said no additional forces have been deployed in the field.

"We are already on heightened alert but this is a situation that has developed and we are giving it proper attention," he said.

Besides increased visibility of policemen and soldiers around the city, a number of "spotters" have been fielded in certain areas to keep an eye on suspected terrorists.