PRESIDENTIAL son and Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte said Wednesday that the attack on government forces in Marawi was a message to President Rodrigo Duterte, as part of efforts to destroy peace efforts in Mindanao.
“The message of the attack was clear and it targeted my father and his administration. It was meant to terrorize the government and the Filipino people,” the vice mayor said in a statement.
The younger Duterte said the attack was “meant to undermine Duterte’s peace efforts and his development agenda in Mindanao and the entire country.”
“The enemies of peace and meaningful change are out on a rampage now that the Duterte administration’s peace and development efforts are rapidly gaining momentum in Mindanao and many other parts of the country. There are groups who are not happy about what’s happening now,” the presidential son said.
The vice mayor urged the public to help the government in its fight against terrorism.
“We have to be at all times vigilant because there are still people and groups who are out to destabilize our government and terrorize the Filipino people,” he added.
Nine soldiers were injured Tuesday with two in critical condition after an improvised explosive device exploded next to a presidential convoy in Marawi City.
The convoy, composed of personnel from the Presidential Security Group, state television RTVM and local troop escorts, was supposed to do advance work ahead of President Duterte’s visit to Butig, Lanao del Sur. They were hit by unidentified gunmen in Barangay Emie Punod in Marawi City at 10:30 a.m.
Despite threats to his security, the President pushed through with his visit Wednesday.
Malacañang, meanwhile, slammed conspiracy rumors that attack against the PSG personnel was staged by the government.
Posts on social media claimed that residents of Marawi saw the fleeing PSG convoy shooting at houses along the highway, adding that only the military did the firing.
“That remains to be a conspiracy theory. So we ask citizens to always verify the news that they receive in social media,” Communications Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan said.
“The government will not sacrifice the lives of our soldiers, for the conspiracy theory that some citizens have been thinking about,” he added.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Wednesday urged the military to bring justice to the perpetrators of the attack.
Brig. Gen. Restituto Padillia, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman, said seven personnel of the Presidential Security Group and two security escorts from the military were wounded in an ambush on Tuesday morning in Sitio Matalupay, Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
“We cannot tolerate such brazen terrorist attacks against our uniformed personnel. It’s time for the AFP to show them the consequences of such brutality,” Pimentel said.
Padilla said that the ambush was carried out with the use of an improvised explosive device against a convoy of PSG and military personnel.
