WHAT used to be a normal busy night in Roxas night market in Davao City, where people enjoys cheap food, clothes, and massage services turned to be a night of terror in one of the most safest city in the world.
Around 10:30 p.m. Friday, September 2, a deadly explosion claimed 14 lives with some 67 wounded individuals, figures from Davao City Police Office (DCPO) shows as of early afternoon Saturday, September 3.
Following the unfortunate incident, President Rodrigo Duterte declared “State of Lawlessness” for the entire country, effective September 3 until threat against public safety and the nation is still an imminent danger.
“I have this duty to protect the country, I have this duty to keep intact the integrity of this country. So I am declaring now state of lawlessness,” a seemingly calm Duterte said in an ambush interview Saturday dawn at the blast site. The President explained that the public must not misunderstood his declaration with Martial Law.
“It is not Martial Law, it has nothing to do with the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus. But I am inviting now the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military and the police (to suppress any violence),” he said adding that any action, any punitive taken by the security forces “would be in furtherance to stop terrorism.”
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the declaration was based on Article VII section 18 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
“The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to suppress lawless violence,” Abella said, quoting the Constitution. Duterte also said that that the rampant illegal drugs in the country also contributes to such declaration.
“There is a crisis in this country involving drugs, extrajudicial killings same, and there seems to be an environment of lawlessness, lawless violence in this country,” Duterte said.
Under the declaration, a stricter checkpoints, inspections and more military and police movements will be implemented throughout the country.
“I will have to order everybody to follow a national policy in pursuing program vis-a-vis with my declaration now that we are in State of Lawlessness,” the President, who served more than two decades as Mayor in Davao City. It can be recalled that, the city has been declared under the same state during the 2003 Sasa Wharf bombing.
No failure of intelligence
The 71-year-old President said that there was no failure of intelligence during the Roxas night market explosion. “I remember warning everybody that there’s going to be a reprisal because of the ongoing war in Sulu,” Duterte said.
He added that the government was forewarned and has prepared for possible attacks. The President assured the public that the government will be with them to protect the nation and its people.
“The Government is here for you. As much as humanly possible, we will protect everybody,” Duterte said.
Lockdown
He said that such will only mean stricter checkpoints and that Filipinos still have the right to enter and leave the city.
“Davao is safe. There is no criminality here, except for terrorism,” the President said.
But he underscored that the explosion is not an isolated case in the city. Duterte also said that the military and police forces are now being directed to exert extreme security measures as possibilities of same incident in some areas in the country is not impossible.
Meanwhile, Mayor Sarah Duterte-Carpio said that Davao City will not be terrorized by this cowardly, heinous, and inhumane actions by perpetrators who are yet to be identified.
“I call all the Dabawenyos to unite and help each other to rise from this senseless incident,” she said in a statement.
She also assured the victims of the explosion that “the city government will assist in all their needs for hospitalization, burial, funeral and day-to-day expenses.”
In a statement released by the City Information Office, Duterte-Carpio was quoted as saying:
“The measure of success of terrorism is how long it takes for the victims to stand up. We will stand up NOW.”
By noon the following day, government personnel, from streetsweepers to firemen were cleaning up the blast site as scene of crime operations have ended.
Mayor Duterte-Carpio had called on the people to gather for a mass at the site by 4 p.m.
The mass was presided by no less than Archbishop Romulo Valles.
There, during the mass, where individuals who have decided to start on the journey of healing.
On his own, the President, too has extended his hand for healing as he visited the wounded and checked on the bodies of the dead. His presence have somehow calmed fears and assured the people that government, both national and local, are on top of the situation.
Alvin Pelayo, 22 years old masseur, one of the survivors and witnesses of the deadly explosion shared in an interview hours after the incident that the alleged reported “bomb” was placed by two unidentified, suspicious women near their area.
