MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte made an unusual honoring of the fallen soldiers as well as others who died in the twin explosions caused by two foreign suicide bombers in Jolo, Sulu a week ago.
Wearing a cap and a face mask, Duterte arrived at the blast site on Sunday afternoon. He knelt and kissed the ground, offered flowers, and led the candle-lighting ceremony.
Duterte, in a speech before the state troops aired on Monday morning, said that the gesture was to honor the victims whose lives were “snuffed out for no reason at all.”
“This unfortunate incident is only one of the countless incidents that proved that we should never be complacent when it comes to terrorism,” the chief executive said.
The 75-year-old leader added that last week’s attacks “will only further strengthen our resolve to crush the lawless elements behind this cowardly act,” noting that the government will fight.
“If we cannot really agree then we fight. And we fight hard hanggang magkaubusan na. Maybe by that time, ‘pag ubos na ang lahat, wala nang gyera,” Duterte said. “In the meantime, we fight. I cannot offer anything. I have a mandate. I don’t only order, but impose duties.”
“In God’s time, we will talk about peace. If it is hatred, it cannot be stopped anymore. It is an impossible dream. It is an unreachable star. But it behooves upon us even as leaders, even to try, to talk, even as we wage war,” he added.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet but the military earlier identified as suspects the Indonesian widow of a 2019 Filipino suicide bomber and the wife of an Abu Sayyaf leader./PN
