PHILIPPINE Army Chief Cirilito Sobejana said on Tuesday, August 25, 2020, that he was inclined to recommend the reimposition of martial law in Sulu following the latest suicide bombing attack that killed 15 people in Jolo.
“So siguro its high time na ibalik po natin. If I may respectfully recommend to our President through our Chief of Staff and Secretary of National Defense na kung maibalik o maideklara muli na martial law doon sa lugar dahil sa ito, doon sa probinsya ng Sulu dahil sa recent bombing incident na nangyari,” Sobejana said.
The town of Jolo, capital of Sulu, was placed on lockdown following the twin explosions on August 24.
Fifteen people, including the suspected suicide bomber and a child, were killed.
Other fatalities were seven soldiers, one Special Action Force policeman and five other civilians. Seventy-five other people were wounded.
Sobejana said the lockdown was imposed to allow authorities to sweep the area and prevent movement of people until the perpetrators are arrested.
He was hopeful that the perpetrators were still in town.
He said they will coordinate with the local government units and other stakeholders on the conduct of an investigation into the attack.
The possible augmentation of troops in Sulu was still under study.
Under monitoring
The first explosion on August 24 came from an improvised explosive device (IED) strapped to a motorcycle while the second came from an IED that a woman had carried.
Sobejana said the woman may have been one of two female suicide bombers they were monitoring. It was also possible that both were involved in the attack.
The two women were believed to be operating under Mundi Sawadjaan, allegedly the brains behind the attack.
Mundi and the two female suicide bombers were the subject of the intelligence operation conducted by the four military personnel who were shot dead by the police at a checkpoint in Jolo on July 29.
Mundi is a relative of Hatib Sawadjaan, the second to the highest leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group after Radullan Sahiron.
Sobejana said he believed that Hatib had been killed in past military operations although they have yet to locate his body.
Suicide bombers
Sobejana said the two women were the wives of Norman Lasuca, the first Filipino suicide bomber, and Abu Talha or Talha Jumsah, an ISIS-trained bomb expert who taught ASG members how to make improvised explosive devices (IED) more lethal and destructive.
“Dahil nga namatay ‘yung kanilang mga asawa, alam nyo naman ‘yung panlilinlang nila, pinaniniwala nila na if they die through that kind of death ay sila ay aakyat sa langit at they will enjoy the 72 virgins. Baka yun ang motivation na ginawa ni Mundi at napaniwala n’ya itong dalawang asawa at ito nga humantong sa pagsabog,” Sobejana said.
Lasuca’s wife is an Indonesian.
Lasuca and another attacker wore explosives around their torsos and set these off in a temporary camp of a special army counter-terrorism unit in Indanan, Sulu on June 28, 2019.
Three soldiers and three civilians were killed in that attack while several others were wounded.
It was the second suicide bombing incident in the Philippines.
The first involved a foreign couple who blew themselves up in the Jolo Cathedral. This attack claimed 23 lives and wounded more than 100 others.
Martial law
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in the entire Mindanao on May 23, 2017, shortly after the ISIS-inspired Maute group staged an attack in Marawi City.
Martial law was supposed to last only for 60 days under the Constitution, but it was extended until the end of 2017.
It was again extended until end-2018 despite the end of hostilities in Marawi in October 2017 to allow the military and the police to run after terrorist groups and other armed groups in Mindanao.
Martial law was further extended until the end of 2019 to ensure smooth implementation of rehabilitation plans in Marawi.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said it has mobilized all available security forces to undertake pursuit operations against the perpetrators.
PNP Chief Archie Gamboa ordered the Bangsamoro PNP to further intensify conduct of checkpoints, police visibility patrols, and focused intelligence and law enforcement operations in close coordination with the AFP and other members of the security sector.
He identified the lone policeman who died in the incident as Senior Master Sergeant Joe Michael Langbis, a member of the elite Special Action Force. (SunStar Philippines)