No lifting yet of state of emergency

President Duterte has no plans to lift the state of emergency due to violent lawlessness prompted by the bombing at a night market in Davao City last Sept. 2, Malacañang said yesterday.

“As of now, there is no official word,” said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella when asked if the arrest of three suspects in the bombing would make Duterte lift the proclamation.

The defense department on Friday presented before the media three suspects in the Sept. 2 bombing, declaring the case closed.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the suspects are

members of the Maute group, a small and relatively new militant group based in Lanao del Sur that wants to align itself with the Islamic State (IS).

One of the suspects planted the bomb near a busy night market while another called the cellular phone attached to the explosive device to trigger the explosion.

The third one documented the incident on his cellular phone, shouting “Allahu akbar” before the blast that killed 15 people and wounded 69 others.

Malacañang then issued Proclamation 55, which declared the state of national emergency on the account of lawless violence in Mindanao.

Duterte signed the proclamation order before he attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos last month.

Duterte directed the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police to undertake measures to suppress all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao, and to prevent it from spreading across the Philippines.

The proclamation shall remain in effect until lifted or withdrawn by the President, the proclamation read.

The declaration cited that there has been a spate of violence and lawless acts across Mindanao including kidnappings, hostage-takings and murder of civilians, bombing of power transmission facilities and attacks on military outposts.

Suspects to file counter-affidavits

The suspected bombers would submit on Wednesday their counter- affidavit on the illegal possession of firearms and explosives case filed against them before the Department of Justice.

The suspects will continue to be detained at the Philippine Army headquarters in Taguig City, said Public Attorney’s Office lawyer Mario Dionisio Jr., one of three counsels representing alleged bombers TJ Tagadaya Macalabang, Wendel Apostol Facturan and Musali Mustapha.

The criminal case filed against the suspects would be subjected to a regular preliminary investigation.

‘No to terrorism’

In Davao City, presidential daughter and Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio yesterday said people should not give in to terrorism.

“The arrest of the suspected perpetrators of the bombing in Davao City is a welcome development,” the mayor said.

Duterte-Carpio said the development is commendable as authorities vowed to expeditiously give justice to the victims of the blast.

“It is, however, important for us to remember that the arrest must ultimately lead us to the dismantling of terror groups in our midst or result in the failure of more senseless acts of violence and extremism,” she said.

“We also need to remember that this does not end our desire to give justice to the victims and those whose lives were forever changed by that horrendous act of terrorism,” she added. –