‘Narco-terrorist’ Davao bomber identified – PNP identified

MANILA, Philippines - Police have identified the person who left the improvised explosive device that killed 14 people and injured scores of others in Davao City last week.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa yesterday said witnesses have positively identified the bomber based on the sketch released to the public on Wednesday.

“He is already identified based on testimonies of people in the area. Two massage parlor attendants gave his true identity,” Dela Rosa told reporters at the Batangas Port.

Dela Rosa refused to identify the bomber, citing the ongoing police operation.

He said the bomber is “identified to be a member of a terrorist group.”

Dela Rosa said investigation and intelligence reports also point to the involvement of drug lords in Central Mindanao.

“The more it reinforced our theory about narco-terrorism. Before the blast happened, we have received information that the narco-personalities in Central Mindanao are funding or financing this bombing operation,” he added.

Dela Rosa hinted the drug lords are hurting from the effects of the government campaign against their illegal operations so they resorted to hiring a terrorist group to divert public attention from them.

Dela Rosa, however, said investigators are still considering all possibilities since drugs and terrorism are two different things.

“They are two different things and in this case it developed into terrorism because terrorists are being used by drug lords through the funding,” Dela Rosa said.

He said the police have established links of the bombing suspect to terrorism.

“But linking him in narco-personalities, this has yet to be established. This was only through intelligence information. The police have yet to secure concrete evidence linking the two but it remains a theory,” Dela Rosa said.

Director Benjamin Magalong, PNP deputy chief for operations, released the artist’s sketches of the bomber on Wednesday.

Magalong said witnesses have pinpointed the suspect in the artist’s sketch as the one who left the black bag containing the IED.

Dela Rosa said there were around 20 pictures of known bombers shown to witnesses and they picked out the suspect as the one who left the bag with explosives.

He said the witnesses recalled the distinct features of the suspect who left the bomb.

Magalong also stressed the construction of the IED indicated the explosives came from Central Mindanao.

He said the construction of the IED was similar to those originally made by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and eventually the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio yesterday announced the bounty for the arrest of the suspect has been increased to P3 million.

The President’s daughter attended the turnover ceremonies at the Task Force Davao headquarters where Col. Erwin Bernard Neri took over from Col. Henry Robinson.

Neri was chief of staff of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) before he was named TF Davao commander over the weekend. – Edith Regalado, Jaime Laude