‘Raw report says car bomb to be used in Davao City’

MANILA, Philippines - An unverified intelligence report that a car bomb will be used to sow terror in Davao City prompted President Aquino to inform Mayor Rodrigo Duterte about the serious threat.

“The reports stated – and I emphasize ‘the raw report’ – that this terrorist who is a bomb-maker had sent a bomb or a bomb-laden vehicle to Davao City to further a terrorist attack,” he told journalists during the 67th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Air Force at Clark Freeport, Pampanga yesterday.

“So we are not discounting any possibility but we want to err on the side of caution and that’s why we informed the good mayor that there is such a report and we emphasized it is raw,” Aquino said.

“There was and there is an ongoing operation against this very long sought-after terrorist with international links,” he said.

He was apparently referring to Abdul Basit Usman who was said to have been killed in a drone attack in Afghanistan but who was recently reported to be still alive.

“The mayor, as head of the Peace and Order Council for Davao City, should be made aware of pertinent information so that he has the wherewithal to adequately prepare his community for it,” Aquino added.

He said both the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police are “actively determining the validity of the report and (undertaking) continuing operations against this known terrorist.”