AFP warns vs ‘lone wolf’ attacks

AFP Spokesperson Brigadier General Restituto Padilla
INQUIRER FILE
PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

The military on Friday called on the public to remain vigilant following President Duterte’s warning that extremists might resort to “lone wolf” attacks following their defeat in Marawi.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the military had been repeatedly calling on the public to keep watch on their communities and surroundings because of the possibility of this kind of attack.

“That’s our call, that we hope we push the concept of shared responsibility in security, which we had long been saying,” Padilla said in a  press briefing.

“We can only prevent these kinds of attacks if every citizen will do their part,” he added.

Remain alert

People should remain alert, vigilant and observant of their surroundings, he said.

The number of police personnel, soldiers and other security personnel are not enough to keep an eye on everything, he added.

“That’s why we are reminding everybody that the fight against terrorism does not end with the conclusion of the fighting in Marawi. It is just beginning. And what we would be fighting here, really are incidents of lone wolf attacks,” he said.

Mr. Duterte said on Thursday that he himself feared extremists would resort to lone wolf attacks after they were defeated in their siege of Marawi.

He also said terrorism would always be there and he did not think it would be erased in just five to seven years, “until such time that the ideology of destruction and killing is part of the grey matter between the ears of the terrorists.”

“Even I am afraid, in the sense that they might opt for lone wolf [attacks] again. They have tried massive violent activity and they were defeated,” he said at the Philippine Professional Summit at Manila Hotel.

Violent experimentation

“They might, I said, opt for something more than just like a similar violent experimentation with a lone wolf, and the trucks you plow in, drive into a crowd and just kill anybody,” he added.

Mr. Duterte on Friday also reminded Filipinos to be vigilant and remain aware that extremism was a problem not just in the Philippines, but also in other parts of the world.

“Retaliation and vengeance is not farfetched, so that you might want to just also be ready, not at this time, but I said, raise your awareness of how dangerous the world is today,” he said.

“Even in New York and wherever you go. I think the safest place to visit now would be South America. Europe is a very dangerous place to go. You would not know if it’s a lone wolf or a ton of explosives. You won’t be able to read it,” he added.