No need for martial law after bombing – AFP chief

MANILA, Philippines — There is no need to declare martial law following the bombing of a gymnasium in the Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said yesterday.

Brawner assured the public that the AFP, in coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP), is hunting down those believed to be behind the attack.

“Your armed forces is already conducting a manhunt, a massive operation to go against the perpetrators of this incident. Operations are ongoing against the Dawlah Islamiyah, the local terrorist group operating in Lanao del Sur,” he said.

Brawner stressed that there is no need to declare martial law as “your security forces are on top of the situation and as I said, we believe that they will not be able to launch another attack with the magnitude of the Marawi siege…there are only a few of them.”

He said the military is now on red alert status in Lanao del Norte and is now working at identifying and capturing the bombers, with two persons of interest so far, based on the testimonies of at least 19 witnesses interviewed by the PNP.

“Witnesses said they saw a man wearing a black jacket, wearing a black mask going inside with a bag and when he went out of the gym, he doesn’t have the bag anymore. So this is the angle that the PNP is looking into as one of the persons of interest,” Brawner told CNN Philippines yesterday.

He said claims that the Islamic State was behind the bombing is being investigated and validated, as all angles and evidence, including the signature of the bomb used, are being looked into.

Brawner said operations so far have resulted in the neutralization of the group’s sub-leader in Piagapo town and efforts are being sustained “so we are running after them and hopefully very soon, we’ll have results.”

He said his optimism comes from how the military’s commanders on the ground are also optimistic, considering the assistance of all intelligence units in the area and cooperation of the locals.

Tipsters

In Lanao del Sur, vigilant residents, among them moderate Islamic missionaries, are passing on to the police and military information about the backgrounds of two suspects believed to be responsible for the bombing of the MSU gym.

In separate interviews, Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and Philippine Army commander Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, said they are grateful to tipsters for helping authorities locate the people responsible for the bombing.

Suspects Arseni Lumen Membisa and Wahab Sandigan Macabayao, members of the Dawlah Islamiya, are now subject of an extensive joint police-military manhunt.

The suspects were reported to have immediately fled to a town at the border of Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur after the bombing.

Members of different multi-sector municipal peace and order councils in Lanao del Sur told reporters that Membisa and Macabayao were former henchmen of the slain siblings Omarkhayam and Abdullah Maute, founders of the long decimated Maute terror group that laid siege to about a dozen barangays in Marawi City from May 23 to Oct. 16, 2017.

Membisa and Macabayao were also implicated in the toppling down, using improvised explosive devices, of more than a dozen steel power relay pylons in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte in the past four years.

Membisa and Macabayao joined the Dawlah Islamiya in late 2018 and have since been working as collectors of “protection money” from business establishments in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, according information given by two Maranao municipal councilors and a Muslim preacher.

Victims

Overwhelming sympathy poured in to the bereaved families of the four killed from the bombing at MSU.

Killed were teachers Evangeline Aromin, Riza Ramos Daniel and students Junerey Taub Barbante and Janine Arenas of MSU, according to the school and police authorities.

Aromin, 31, fondly called by her family and friends as Aading and Jen, was a native of Barangay New Clarin, Bansalan town, Davao del Sur.

Little is known about Daniel, a mother who hails from Dumalinao town, Zamboanga del Sur and residing in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, and worked with MSU-IIT.

Arenas, a daughter of an OFW mother working in Saudi Arabia, is taking Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship Program, is a 4Ps beneficiary in Balabagan town, Lanao del Sur.

Barbante, on the other hand, was a native of Maribojoc, Bohol and a student of the Master in Business Administration program. He was a promising student and a mountain trekking enthusiast.

‘No Intel failure’

Meanwhile, the PNP belied claims that the bombing at MSU was caused by a failure of intelligence.

“There was no failure of intelligence that happened here,” PNP public information officer Col. Jean Fajardo said.

Fajardo said the Bangsamoro police did not receive any information about a supposed plot to attack the MSU prior to the bombing.

She stated that these priority intelligence reports about potential attacks and other security issues are subjects for validation.

Fajardo explained that validation of intel reports is not limited to the PNP, but to other security forces such as the AFP and the Philippine Coast Guard.

Police are looking for two other people who were spotted by CCTV footage outside the gym. “We are looking at two individuals that served as possible lookouts,” Fajardo said.

The bomb, fashioned out a 60mm mortar round, had the signature of a terrorist group based in Mindanao. Fajardo said police have yet to determine the bomb’s triggering device.

PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. has ordered police commanders to beef up security measures in the wake of the bombing at MSU.

Acorda on Tuesday inspected the security coverage laid out in a mall and other places of convergence at the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City.

He also checked the Light Rail Transit and even rode a train to Manila with other top police officials.

As Christmas Day approaches, Acorda stressed the need to intensify security preparations in areas frequented by the public such as malls.

Condemnation

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Tuesday strongly condemned the bombing, adding that it is ready to provide assistance to families of the bombing victims.

“Such incidents of violence that seek to sow fear amongst people and intend to disrupt all efforts towards peacebuilding, especially in places of worship and learning, contradict the principles of international humanitarian law,” the CHR said.

“Any attack on schools and places of learning is an attack on our collective aspirations to build a better and brighter society,” said the human rights body. “Violence perpetrated in the pursuit of religious beliefs is not only a violation of the principle of coexistence but also a stain on the reputation of faith communities around the world.” — John Unson, Pia Lee-Brago, Evelyn Macairan, Janvic Mateo, Roel Pareño, Emmanuel Tupas