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The Colors of March
By Daisy C. Gonzales
davaotoday.com
Published: Jan. 28, 2006
DAVAO CITY -- City Hall, the police and the Task Force Davao had placed this city under "orange" and "red" alert levels after the Feb. 14 bombings in the main bus terminal. "Orange" was said to be the alert level for civilians, which meant being extra cautious since bombings could happen again, and "red" meant the police and military would stay on alert at all times.
By March, amid the preparations for the 68th Araw ng Dabaw, the city was put under heavy alert for possible terror attacks. It was a very insecure month for Davaoeños. The Task Force Davao even said that prank texters and callers of emergency numbers would be penalized.
In Taguig, at the Bicutan prison, a police assault ended with the deaths of 22 Muslim inmates, among them members or leaders of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf. Among those killed were Robot (Ghalib Andang), Kosovo (Alhamser Limbong) and Global (Nadjmi Sabdula).
Majority of those killed, however, were non-Abu Sayyaf members, among them a 75-year-old Muslim detainee suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Some were teenagers. Except for the three Abu Sayyaf leaders, the others, according to reports, had been charged with any crime.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, fearing possible retaliation by the Abu Sayyaf, put the city under red alert status.
The Department of Transportation and Communications implemented stringent security measures in the public transport sector while the city police chief, Conrado Laza, who had said that he could not give full assurance that no bomb would explode in the city, said they were "doing their best" to prevent another terror attack.
Duterte had already issued a warning that terrorist threats present a "clear and present danger" to the public. He raised the alert level from orange (which was declared after the Valentine's Day bombing) to red and issued statements warning civilians that vital installations and government facilities may be the target of terrorist attacks.
Former bomb experts in the police and military, Duterte said, were leading a group that alleged recruited people in two barangays in the city supposedly to launch "retaliatory attacks against (those) that victimize innocent civilians," a report said. The Task Force Davao denied that such a group existed.
During the Lenten week, authorities were extra alert after receiving unconfirmed reports that terrorists disguised as beggars would carry out terrorist attacks in Davao City. Authorities began watching carefully the churches, malls and other populated areas during the Holy week. There were also reports that the communist New People's Army would carry out attacks during the Lenten break; Duterte dismissed the said reports as untrue.
The only recorded “disturbance” during the Holy Week were ordinary crime incidents and a botched jail break.
But red alert remained up even after the Lenten season. Duterte called on the Davaoeños to "observe vigilance and to extend cooperation to law enforcement agencies that are strictly implementing security measures." The Task Force Davao, meanwhile, was not ruling out car bombings and said that the said anti-terrorism task force was "bracing for anything in the fight against terrorism."
By the end of March, the red alert declared by the Task Force Davao was still up. Intelligence reports had supposedly said that the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group was out to use car bombs in their attacks in the country. Authorities had said that Mindanao was being used by the terror group to "build networks and share their deadly expertise."
But even with the high level of alerts during the month, the motorcycle-riding assassins called Davao Death Squad claimed at least six more victims.
Murder charges were also filed against Region 11 police inspector Victoriano Lumbayon Bato, a top ranking official of the Philippine Drug and Enforcement Agency. He was accused of killing Ronald Lim, a gasoline station owner in Toril whose murder the previous month had been attributed to the Davao Death Squad.
The extra-judicial killings prompted Archbishop Fernando Capalla to call for a stop in the killings. Councilor Bonifacio Militar also urged Davaoeños to join Capalla in praying that the "hitmen and the alleged DDS would get tired of killing suspected criminals," according to a local daily. (Daisy C. Gonzales/davaotoday.com)
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