PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief Archie Gamboa on Wednesday, August 26, 2020, expressed support for the recommendation of Philippine Army Chief Cirilito Sobejana to re-impose martial law in the province of Sulu.
"This will allow the military and police more operational flexibility to carry out law enforcement operations against domestic threat groups in the area," Gamboa said in a statement.
PNP spokesperson Bernard Banac said imposing “limited martial law” in Sulu will enhance the implementation of the anti-terror law pending the release of its implementing rules and regulations.
"But in the absence of IRR yan, we think imposing martial law would help a lot in maintaining peace and order in the area," he said.
Banac said the police have been alerted after receiving intelligence information about the possible retaliation of the Abu Sayyaf Group following the arrest of its leader Abduljihad Susukan on August 13 in Davao.
On Tuesday, Sobejana said he will recommend President Rodrigo Duterte through Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gilbert Gapay and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to place Sulu province under martial law following the twin explosions on Monday, August 24.
Fifteen people, including the eight soldiers, one policeman and six civilians, were killed in the two explosions while 75 persons including 21 soldiers, six policemen and 48 civilians were wounded.
The death toll does not include the two suicide bombers, who were believed to be the widows of Norman Lasuca, the first Filipino suicide bomber, and Abu Talha or Talha Jumsah, a bomb expert, respectively.
Jolo town has since been placed on a lockdown to monitor and limit the movement of the people while authorities are sweeping the area and conducting hot pursuit against the perpetrators of the attack.
Gamboa has ordered the Bangsamoro PNP Regional Director Manuel Abu to further strengthen police operations in close coordination with the military and other security sectors in the province to avoid similar incidents from happening again.
The top cop also ordered the mobilization of the Philippine Bomb Data Center (PBDC) and Crime Laboratory to provide technical support to ongoing investigation of the deadly explosions.
Gamboa said the PBDC analysts will seek to determine any specific bomb signature of the explosives that were detonated based on reconstruction of forensic evidence gathered by the Crime Laboratory and other security forces that responded to the incident.
“Any specific bomb signature that will be determined from the technical analysis will be compared with known bomb signatures from previous incidents that are stored in the PBDC database to possibly identify the person or group to whom the bomb signature can be associated with,” he said.
Joint Task Force Sulu commander William Gonzales said only the ASG is capable of staging such gruesome attacks in the area as there are no other terrorist groups there other than the ASG.
On reports that the ISIS has claimed responsibility for the incident, Gonzales said “propaganda lang yan. Alam mo naman ‘yung ISIS mahilig sila sa mga propaganda para sumikat sila. Yan naman ang kanilang mga strategy.”
“Not directly ISIS pero itong ASG meron itong...kumbaga ISIS leaning na grupo,” he added.
Meanwhile, Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) commander Jose Faustino Jr., said the Jolo blast has no direct threat in its area of responsibility.
However, he assured the public that the Eastmincom and its ground units will remain vigilant and on full alert. (SunStar Philippines)