DAVAO CITY—Charges were filed on Monday afternoon before the prosecutor’s office here against the main suspect and eight other suspects in the deadly bomb explosion at the Roxas night market on Sept. 2, an official said Wednesday.
The blast killed 15 people and injured 69 others, and the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for it.
Special Investigation Task Group head Valeriano De Leon said of the nine suspects, three were identified as Jane Does and five others John Does.
He said the main suspect was earlier described by witnesses.
De Leon made his statement even as President Rodrigo Duterte said Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari was still aligned with the Abu Sayyaf.
In his speech before troops at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City on Tuesday, Duterte said Misuari, who still enjoys widespread support among Muslim Filipinos, still had direct control over the terrorists whom the government wanted to crush.
“Nur can’t make up his mind,” Duterte said.
“But I hope someday he ill decide because the Abu Sayyaf is out of his control. I’m sorry to say it in public. He cannot make them follow, so we have to do it for him.”
De Leon said they now had a copy of the sketch of the primary suspect without a mask based on the description of the taxi driver he hired.
“We are lucky that our witness has identified the prime suspect based on our rogues’ gallery,” De Leon said.
He said the taxi driver voluntarily submitted himself to the authorities after he saw the sketch of the suspect in the news.
He said the suspect took his taxi along with two female companions and the three disembarked at the Roxas night market.
He said the description of the taxi driver matched the description of other witnesses.
The suspects are facing seven counts of multiple murder and 31 counts of multiple frustrated murder following the blast.
Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters denied involvement in the blast.