Duterte’s visit deemed ‘a big boost’ to Bohol
TAGBILARAN CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Bohol on Wednesday was a big boost to Bohol’s consolidated effort to hunt the remaining Abu Sayyaf members on the loose after the Inabanga clash last week.
Governor Edgar Chatto said the president’s visit boosted the morale of the soldiers and the police units in Bohol, together with the entire Boholano community, that now face the challenge of capturing the remaining eight ASG members led by Inabanga native Joselito Melloria who had survived and gone into hiding in the hinterlands of the town after the encounter with government troops on April 11.
Chatto said Duterte’s visit to Bohol sent a strong message to those who tried to sow terror in the peace-loving town and the entire nation in general.
Duterte was briefed that a concerned citizen offered a bounty of P100,000 for each of the ASG survivors, but the president raised the bounty to P1 million each.
The president was also informed of the initial leads that the Provincial Intelligence Branch of the Bohol Police Provincial Office got on Tuesday afternoon.
Chatto also said that during the closed-door meeting at the Multi-purpose Hall of the Philippine Ports Authority in Tagbilaran City, Duterte ordered the AFP and PNP to exert all efforts to capture the ASG men on the loose in Bohol “dead or alive”.
This was reiterated by Duterte during an interaction with the media after the meeting, adding a quip that they better be captured dead to save food allowance when they would be incarcerated.
Chatto said he is thankful to the president for standing by Bohol in this trying time and for being concerned of the security of the province and the entire country.
Duterte, during his interaction with the media, said in jest that civilians may take up arms against the ASG men who survived the Inabanga encounter, or kill them.
Chatto said Duterte made a last-minute decision in the wee hours yesterday to drop by Bohol in the afternoon, diverting from his official itinerary, just to get a thorough briefing on the Inabanga clash and to ensure the security arrangements are in place for the ongoing ASEAN meeting in Panglao.
Duterte arrived with Cabinet secretaries in tow and stayed for a few hours where he tackled the Inabanga incident with Chatto, Inabanga Mayor Josephine Socorro Jumamoy, PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa, Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, DND Usec. for Defense Operations Cesar Yano, AFP chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año, and DILG Undersecretary Catalino Cuy.
Duterte just stayed for a few hours in Bohol and left, together with the Cabinet secretaries, after seeing that the security arrangements were intact.
Dela Rosa stayed in Bohol for a few more hours and proceeded to Barangay Ulbujan in Calape to visit the family of the slain SWAT team member PO1 Rey Anthony Nazareno and conferred honors for the slain police officer’s heroic act.
Members of the Presidential Management Staff who came a day earlier had already visited the family though, bringing a bouquet of flowers and the financial assistance from Malacañang to the family of Nazareno.
Bato returned to Tagbilaran for dinner with the governor at the People’s Mansion and left in the evening via Cebu.