There is no escaping terrorism, President Rodrigo Duterte said as he warned of another bomb attack in Mindanao similar to the one that killed 15 people in a night market on Sept. 2.
"There will be another explosion, not in Davao but in another area in Mindanao," Duterte said last night during ceremonies wherein he handed over financial assistance to victims of the night market attack.
According to the President, the younger generation of terrorists, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, are now staging attacks in Mindanao.
Last Sunday, he asked for more time to establish "law and order" in a country where "there are too simply too many gangsters and terrorists."
“I cannot tell you now, but we are trying our very best to put order in this country. We are wracked with so many problems: kidnapping in the south; terrorism; drugs, which is really pulling us down; and I can say that we would need time to put everything in order,” Duterte said after receiving Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad at the Matina Enclaves Residences here after the latter’s release by his Abu Sayyaf captors last Saturday.
According to the authorities, Abu Sayyaf also freed an Indonesian and two Filipino captives Friday night in Panglima Estino town.
The President cited the explosion in New York Sunday night to underscore what he believed was the pervasiveness of terror.
“That is the next great battle of the century – terrorism and civilization. Those who believe in civilization, those who believe – maybe to spell the end of the planet,” the President said.
“Hopefully, in the fullness of God’s time, we would be able to establish really law and order in this country. There are simply too many gangsters and terrorists, simply too many battles here and there,” he said.
Duterte met last night with at least 48 of the wounded and their families and promised them unspecified financial assistance. Among those he met was Dennis Larida who lost his wife and young son to the attack.
The President has been telling members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines of the need to brace for more terror attacks in his visits to various military camps across the country.
Earlier, he said the Abu Sayyaf is shifting its focus from kidnap-for-ransom to establishing a “caliphate” in Mindanao.
"You travails in life are over," said Duterte while meeting a gaunt and haggard Sekkingstad, promising to arrest or eliminate the Norwegian's kidnapper.
Meanwhile, the Sulu Provincial Police reported that Indonesian Herman Bin Manggak, 38, and two Filipinos were freed some 30 minutes apart in Barangay Tiptipon, Panglima Estino town around 10 p.m. Sunday.
Source: Philippine Star
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