Duterte orders strict inspection of vehicles

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has ordered a strict inspection of all vehicles entering this city in the wake of last week’s explosion that ripped through a passenger van and wounded a dispatcher.

“I have to protect the community, so I must order the search of everybody,” Duterte said.

The mayor said investigators were eyeing two angles in the incident that occurred near a mall at the Eco-West Drive.

He said the attack could be due to the strict campaign of the city government against illegal van terminals and insurgency, citing the recent arrest of a certain Abdul Manap Mentang.

Earlier, police arrested another person named Abdul Manap Mentang, said to be a leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and tagged in the Valentine’s Day bombing at the Davao Overland Transport Terminal in 2005.

Duterte said authorities must compare the fingerprints of the two Mentangs in order to find out the truth.

He said the two suspects looked different, based on the photographs of the person arrested earlier and the one recently arrested in Pigkawayan, North Cotabato.

Duterte said he doubted the involvement of the second Mentang in the attack on a passenger van.