THE four individuals who surfaced to police after being tagged as “persons of interest” in the Jolo twin explosions were innocent, authorities said.
Sulu Provincial Police Office Chief Pablo Labra said the four individuals -- an 18-year-old, a teacher, a 17-year-old, and 24-year old -- voluntarily turned themselves over to the police on Wednesday, January 30, in order to clear their names.
Authorities earlier said the four persons are possibly behind the Jolo twin bombings, which happened Sunday morning, January 27, after they were seen in a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage acting suspiciously, particularly in the act of detonating the explosives.
Police and military officials said the four persons seen on the CCTV footage were members of the Ajang-ajang group, a supporter of the Abu Sayyaf notorious for kidnapping and other terror acts.
But Labra said the four admitted they were the people on the footage and
were even wearing the clothes they were seen wearing on the CCTV. The four persons denied their involvement in the blasts.
He said the 18-year-old and his teacher said they were just in the area to withdraw money and to eat in a restaurant near the market, which is at least 200 meters away from the Our Lady of Mount Carmel where the twin blasts that killed 21 persons and wounded over a hundred people occurred.
The two other persons who denied knowing the 18-year-old and his teacher, on the other hand, said they were in the area to buy medicines for their sick relative. They were cousins residing in Barangay Takut-takut and Barangay Bu-bus, Jolo.
The four said they all ran when they heard the explosion and not because they perpetrated it.
Labra said after the interview, they are convinced that the four were innocent.
The four were released and removed from the list of persons of interest.
Meantime, the teacher was reportedly seeking for an apology from government forces, saying his reputation was tarnished as people, including his students, were already thinking that he is a terrorist.
Authorities are yet to respond on the teacher’s demand. (SunStar Philippines)