PNP Chief General Ronald De La Rosa.
EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Police on Wednesday confirmed the presence of relatives of Maute extremists in Metro Manila as clashes between the terror group and government forces continue in Marawi City.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said the police have identified some of the terrorists’ relatives currently in the metro.
“Nakatira sila dyan sa Manila at ‘yun nga, babantayan natin sila baka nandyan ‘yung ibang mag-sisibat at lilipat dyan. Kailangan bantayan natin,” Dela Rosa said in a radio interview.
(They live in Manila, and we will closely monitor them because the (terrorists) might move in with them. We really need to monitor them.)
Dela Rosa was confirming National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde’s earlier statement on the presence of Maute relatives in Metro Manila.
But Albayalde clarified that not all relatives of the Maute bandits here are also radical.
“Hindi naman por que relatives sila (Just because they are relatives does not mean that) they’re also violent. They also have relatives here in Metro Manila and in other places also but that doesn’t mean na sila ay (that they are) radical,” he said.
Albayalde assured that Maute relatives in the metro are “just normal citizens.”
The presence of a Maute cell in Metro Manila had floated in March when the police arrested an alleged Maute member inside the Salam Compound in Barangay (village) Culiat in Quezon City.
READ: Maute group has established presence in Metro—‘Bato’
The member was identified as Nasip Ibrahim. He allegedly helped the suspects behind the foiled attempt to bomb the United States Embassy on Roxas Boulevard in Manila in November last year. IDL
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