Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has asked countries that have expressed sympathy and solidarity with the Philippines after a deadly bomb attack on a Catholic church in Jolo, Sulu province, to support the country’s decision to take measures to “crush terrorism without mercy.”
Three days after the attack on the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo that killed more than 20 people and injured nearly 100 others, Locsin called for “the most extreme measures” against those responsible as he thanked the expressions of support from his counterparts around the world.
“And now, my UN friends, please have our back as we go after the criminals. It is the first and defining duty of a state to protect the law-abiding against the lawless and make the latter pay with the full measure of retribution for the lives they take,” Locsin tweeted on Monday.
Common murderers
He said those behind the bombing “are not rebels nor terrorists but common murderers to be hunted down beyond the pale of law by any means sufficient for their extinction.”
In acknowledging the statement of British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field on Tuesday, Locsin tweeted: “Thanks UK but stand by us when we take measures imperative to crush terrorism without mercy,” adding that the British elite forces Special Air Service would have done the same.
“This is no longer terrorism but plain murder. This is not a social but a bad people problem. Kill bad [people], end problem,” he said.
Locsin said the recent plebiscite that approved a new Bangsamoro region under the peace accord with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had officially ended the secessionist campaign.
After the grenade attack on a mosque in Zamboanga City early on Wednesday that killed two people and wounded four others, Locsin said the attacks were not limited to a specific group.
Extreme measures needed
“Now the mayhem is interfaith. That means the [Moro rebellion for] secession is over and plain vanilla mass murder has taken over, requiring the most extreme measures sufficient to end it without any talk-back from enemies of the state who objectively, if not intentionally, side with the criminals,” Locsin tweeted on Wednesday.