|
Sunday, April 06, 2003
Rody's aide tells Emano to shut up
By Aurea A. Gerundio
DAVAO -- The tension brought by the series of bombings that rocked Davao City early this week was further aggravated by the statement made by Cagayan de Oro Mayor Vicente Emano, which outraged supporters of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
"We are outraged and indignant over Emano's uncalled for comments on Mayor Duterte," Wendel E. Avisado, Davao City spokesman said.
Mayor Emano in a radio interview in Cagayan de Oro insinuated that the Wednesday bombing in Davao City, which killed 16 people and injured 55 others could partly be the fault of the tough stance Mayor Duterte.
For Emano, Duterte made a huge blunder when he challenged, uttered undesirable statements and showed "a dirty finger" at the March 4 bombers on television.
Avisado in defense to Duterte said there are things that should be expressed in the proper time and place, adding, "He is not the mayor of Davao City. If he cannot do what Mayor Duterte can do, then he should shut up."
Avisado said Emano's statements are trying to put Duterte down at a time when he needs support from his fellow mayors.
"Pataka lang siya og yawyaw, di naman niya alam ang background talaga (He is blabbering without knowing the real background)."
Avisado said Duterte went to Pikit and Datu Sinsuat to talk with Hashim Salamat through his nephew Abraham Paglas III but he was ignored.
Avisado said Emano was too presumptuous when he said that the bombings of the mosques were retaliatory moves and may not have been initiated by the same that bombed Davao International Airport last March 4 and the Sasa wharf last Wednesday.
"He's too presumptuous. Does he know who bombed the mosques? Wala pa gani nahuman ang investigation (the investigation is not over yet)," Avisado said, adding that the government is running after the terrorists and no "amount of talk can stop any terrorist from staging an attack."
Avisado said he hopes that Cagayan de Oro City would be spared from the same misfortune that Davao City has undergone so that Emano will not feel what Duterte is feeling at the moment.
Aussie forensics
As this developed, a group four Australian forensic experts arrived Saturday and immediately proceeded to the blast site in Sasa Wharf to conduct post blast investigation that might help in establishing some links in the bombing incidents here and the other countries.
The group is the same team which conducted an inspection at the Davao International Airport waiting shed, which was bombed by terrorists last March 4 that killed 21 people and injured 115 others.
In a television interview, Police Regional Office 11 Director Isidro Lapena said the forensic investigators are here to share their expertise with our own police.
"Our own police are still the ones doing the investigation," Lapena clarified.
He said they are here as resource persons.
Homeland security
In the capital, President Arroyo ordered the creation of an Integrated Security Command that would counter terrorist attacks targeting public facilities like seaports, airports, and other transportation terminals nationwide.
Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the President wanted a single command that would supervise and coordinate all efforts in preventing possible terror attacks, like the recent ones that rocked Davao's airport, seaport and mosques.
Bunye said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the local government units would have to coordinate with one command anywhere in the country.
"The President wanted that there will be one overall in charge that would coordinate and mandate all other units located in that particular area. He will have to coordinate with her personally and follow her commands," Bunye said.
Under this setup, Bunye said PNP Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay would be tasked to head the said command to tighten the security in vital locations in Davao.
Bunye said the President is moving towards a single command against terrorism with everybody, especially the citizenry, pitching in to help in the fight to maintain peace and order.
Even the President, in her weekly radio address, said more than anyone else, it should be the people who must help enforcement agencies in netting unscrupulous terrorists, whom she described as a force out to destroy, kill and divide.
"We are faced with a serious challenge. We must find within ourselves, within our own hands and resources, within our solidarity as a people-the capacity to fight, to prevail and to win," she said.
Apparently defending her government from criticism that its intelligence arm has failed again, the President said fighting terror does not come easily, as it requires the vigilance of everyone, including her critics.
"The price of freedom is perpetual vigilance. Complacency will only bring us to ruin and peril," she said.
In the end, however, the President said the best way to counter terrorism is through "a strong sense of nationhood that comes from our sense of responsibility to our fellow Filipinos," she said. (Sun.Star Davao with Joshua Dancel)
(April 6, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
 |
| click
to comment on this article or discuss it with other readers |
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Churches ask for security marshals