Duterte declares state of lawlessness after fatal blast

By Hader Glang and Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte declared a “state of lawlessness” Saturday after an explosion claimed by a Daesh-linked militant group killed 14 people and injured 71 others in his hometown in the country’s troubled south.

Duterte told reporters in Davao City, where he served 22 years as mayor, that his declaration did not amount to imposing martial law, but rather ramping up military and police presence countrywide to combat terror threats and to step up the campaign against illegal drugs and other criminality.

"These are extraordinary times. We are trying to cope up with a crisis now. There seems to be an environment of lawlessness. I just might declare a state of lawless violence in this country," Duterte was quoted as saying by GMA News.

"It's not martial law but I am inviting now the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military and the police to run the country in accordance with my specifications," he added.

The explosion rocked a night market in the city after 10.00 p.m. (1400GMT) Friday, and has since been claimed by the Abu Sayyaf, who had issued statements threating to launch more attacks amid intensified offensives against the group in majority Muslim southern island provinces.

Duterte said Saturday that the Abu Sayyaf, who he refrained from confirming as responsible for the blast, had made threats before to the late night incident.

He revealed that authorities had received information of a possible attack by the group, but could not frisk citizens -- a move that could be deemed “fascistic” -- as such is “the price of being a democratic state”.

"They [Abu Sayyaf] gave us the warning. Not only in Jolo [is Sulu island], but in other places. We were forewarned, we were ready," GMA quoted him saying.

He underlined that his administration’s top law enforcement and intelligence officials had earlier traveled to Davao City for that reason.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.

It is one of two militant groups in the south who have pledged allegiance to Daesh, prompting fears during the stalling of a peace process between the government and the MILF that it could make inroads in a region torn by decades of armed conflict.