Public urged not to speculate on bombing amid text scare

Malacañang as well as the police and military are urging the public not to engage in speculation over the bombing incident in Lamitan City, Basilan province, on Tuesday that left 11 people dead.

Amid claims that it was a suicide bombing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque appealed to the public to wait for the results of the government investigation.

“For now I ask the public to cease and desist from making speculations and let’s await for the final investigation report from law enforcement agencies,” Roque said in a press briefing in Bukidnon on Friday.

Metro Manila’s 29,000-strong police force was placed on “hightened alert” on Thursday following the explosions in Basilan, Rizal and Masbate provinces.

No connection

Armed Forces spokesperson Col. Edgard Arevalo maintained that the Basilan bombing had no connection to the explosion in Antipolo City and another blast at a Masbate port on Wednesday night, both of which he blamed on communist insurgents.

Earlier, the Islamic State jihadi group claimed responsibility for the van explosion at a checkpoint in Lamitan City early Tuesday morning that killed a soldier, six militiamen and four civilians, saying it was a “martyrdom operation.”

However, the military pinned the attack on the Abu Sayyaf faction led by Furiji Indama as part of the bandits’ extortion attempts on local government units.

“So far, we know there has been a local cleric who has been ordered arrested,” Roque said.

 ‘Designed to create panic’

“We are still not verifying [if] this was an Isis attack,” he said, adding it was “very easy to claim it was a foreign attack.”

PNP spokesperson Senior Supt. Benigno Durana urged the public not to believe text and online messages warning that the Basilan explosion was just a “prelude” to bigger bombings in urban centers in the country.

“There is no specific threat on any particular target. Therefore, the text scare being spread around is untrue and obviously designed to create panic,” Durana said.

Arevalo urged the public to “trust their security forces.”

In a radio interview on Friday, Arevalo said the probability that “harm could be done by these terrorists” was “not that big, and we can further reduce the probability” by “using all resources in order to crush and defeat them.”