{"id":199666,"date":"2019-01-28T06:03:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T11:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=199666"},"modified":"2019-01-28T06:03:08","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T11:03:08","slug":"duterte-angered-by-jolo-church-bombing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/01\/28\/duterte-angered-by-jolo-church-bombing\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte \u2018angered\u2019 by Jolo church bombing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in his speech during the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Luzon Island Cluster Conference at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City on October 22, 2018, reiterates his stern warning to the public officials to avoid getting involved in any illegal activities. RENE LUMAWAG\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— President Rodrigo R. Duterte is \u201cangered\u201d by the twin explosions in a Roman Catholic church in Jolo, Sulu that left at least 20 people dead and 112 others wounded, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that aside from being angered, the President is also \u201cdisappointed\u201d that the bombings took place just days after the historic ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) on January 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, of course, he (Duterte) was so angry for one. For another, he is so disappointed that despite the movement to thread the path towards peace and development, there are still certain forces in that region who sowed terror and killed and murdered people,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, you don\u2019t even have to ask why he is angry; everybody is angry now for that bombing,\u201d he added, noting that although he has yet to speak with the President himself, sources have told him about the President\u2019s reaction.<\/p>\n

Panelo noted that the President has already tasked the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to secure the safety of the citizenry, attend to the injured, and to provide succor to victims\u2019 families.<\/p>\n

He refused to comment on suspicions that the attack might be related to the BOL\u2019s recent ratification noting that the President would rather wait for the results of investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will wait for the investigation. Of course, one Islamic State is claiming responsibility. I read it in one of the briefers, that one terrorist group is claiming responsibility for that. But we have to wait for the investigation — who\u2019s behind it and what group or individuals,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

No martial law means chaos<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo, meanwhile, defended anew the imposition of martial law in Mindanao in the wake of the deadly twin bombings in Jolo saying that giving in to calls to lift it would mean \u201cchaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can do that under a martial law regime, then the more reason you should maintain it and be more strict in the implementation of security measures in that area,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was no martial law there, then there would have been chaos and anarchy there. You see how they were able to get Marawi? There was no martial law then,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He stressed that martial law was \u201ceffective\u201d and that the twin explosions were merely isolated cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s effective but this incident is isolated, by the way. So, we will have to investigate how it happened,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you imagine how many bombings there would have been if there was no martial law there in operation?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Panelo further said government is also investigating possible lapses in security which allowed the incident to occur.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have security there and there is one or two bombs being placed inside, then there must be a lapse in security. There is no other reasonable conclusion,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Peace prevails<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the blasts, Panelo assured that government will continue its efforts to track down the perpetrators and ensure long-lasting peace in Mindanao.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of terrorism can stop the journey to peace and development in that region,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law will not give them (perpetrators) mercy. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth, until every killer is placed behind bars,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Panelo also confirmed that the President will be visiting the blast site in Jolo on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The bombings took place five days after the plebiscite for the ratification of the BOL, which creates the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).<\/p>\n

The BOL, which was signed by the President on July 27, 2018, gives the Bangsamoro people more autonomy to govern themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— President Rodrigo R. Duterte is \u201cangered\u201d by the twin explosions in a Roman Catholic church in Jolo, Sulu that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":188052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}