Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong | The Source - video Dailymotion

CNN Philippines

A powerful blast kills at least four people attending a mass in Marawi City. The government vows to go after the perpetrators to bring justice to the victims.  Lanao del Sur Representative Zia Alonto Adiong joins us in the program.  Visit our website for more #NewsYouCanTrust: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/  Follow our social media pages:  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNNPhilippines • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnnphilippines/ • Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines

Transcript

00:00 Welcome to The Source where we combine the headlines with in-depth conversations with

00:06 the newsmakers themselves. I'm Pinky Webb. Today on the program, a powerful blast kills

00:12 at least four people attending a mass in Marawi City. The government vows to go after the

00:17 perpetrators to bring justice to the victims. Lano Del Su representative Zia Alonto-Adion

00:24 joins us in the program. And later, over 135 Chinese militia ships spotted swarming the

00:31 Julian Felipe Reef. Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore

00:35 J. Tariella tells us more later in the program. At least four people were killed and dozens

00:50 were hurt after an explosion ripped through a Sunday mass at a gym in state-run Mindanao

00:55 State University in Marawi City. President Bombo Marcos condemned the attack, which he

00:59 said was carried out by foreign terrorists. He also vowed justice for the victims and

01:04 urged the public to remain calm. The police is increasing its patrols and intelligence

01:09 gathering in Mindanao and even in Metro Manila as a precautionary measure. Let's go straight

01:14 to the source of the story. We have Congressman Zia Adion. Congressman, welcome to The Source.

01:19 Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Pinky. Good morning. Thank you for having

01:24 me. Tragic congressman, what happened there? They were just attending a mass and something

01:31 like this happens. Last we heard, four dead and over 50 injured in that bombing. Is this

01:36 still the number that you have, sir? Yes, that's according to the number that we got

01:44 from the APMC. This is the hospital where the victims were transported and rushed to.

01:49 39 of them have already been discharged. Only a few minor injuries while the rest, I think

01:58 seven of them or five of them undergone medical procedures. So yes, four of those who attended

02:05 the Sunday service unfortunately perished in the bombing. Have you spoken to the family

02:13 of the victims? Well, I'm in Manila right now because I have to attend a session. We

02:21 are to, I think, to ratify the result of the bicameral conference on the 2024 budget. But

02:29 my staff are there. They were there yesterday. I asked them to go to the hospital to gather

02:36 information from the victims. And even the governor also, the governor of Lana, Trasil,

02:42 was there supervising and personally monitoring at the hospital the condition of the victims.

02:49 But I happened to speak to one of them and he happens to be a student. And basically

02:57 he thanked us for the immediate response that we did yesterday to the victims.

03:03 I know that you were interviewed also yesterday and you said that you are in close coordination

03:08 with the AFP and the PNP. What have they told you so far?

03:12 Well, apart from the initial investigation that they conducted, there were forensic examinations

03:19 they deployed SOCO, I guess, as you can see on the screen. And I happened to talk with

03:26 General Browner regarding this. In fact, he informed me that today they will be having

03:32 the common conference in Marawi City precisely to discuss about this matter, about this recent

03:38 bombing attacks. And apart from the information they have released to the public, there's

03:46 no other information that they have shared to me, except that they haven't been able

03:55 to pinpoint exactly who are the responsible individuals or group behind this attack.

04:03 Any information if it was an IED or a grenade?

04:07 That's the initial report that we received. It was an IED, according to the... But then

04:13 I watched the briefing.

04:15 Yesterday?

04:16 Yesterday. Yes, Secretary Chidoro with the PNP and the AFP. The report actually is inconclusive

04:27 to say exactly whether the bomb was used as an IED or not. If I heard it correctly, it's

04:34 a 666 mortar. I'm not familiar with the terminology, Pinky, but I think they have to come up with

04:41 the official statement whether it was an IED or something else.

04:46 Yesterday also you said, let's not mince words, you said this is a terrorist attack.

04:51 Yes.

04:52 Yeah.

04:53 This is indeed a terrorist attack. Well, if you look at the degree of damage, I mean,

05:03 the Maporo gym can actually accommodate, I guess, over 2,000, more than 2,000 persons,

05:09 individuals. And you can see there the damage. And apart from that, there were several, many

05:16 of them, actually four of them died instantly. And more than 40 of the individuals who attended

05:25 the service have caused injuries, you know, have attained injuries. So you can see the

05:31 damage and the intent of the attack, which is basically to cause harm to a specific group

05:38 of people. And to my, and that definition alone, as we can, as we saw yesterday, that

05:45 definition alone falls fitly to a terrorist act, a terroristic attack.

05:51 Yeah. Who are the likely suspects here? Because it's a little, I guess I would say confusing.

05:59 I hope you don't mind, because during the command conference, during the press conference

06:05 yesterday, wherein Secretary Gibote, your daughter was there, AFP General Bronner was

06:10 there, et cetera. And the president also coming out and saying that foreign terrorists were

06:15 behind this attack. But I didn't seem to get that kind of words or description from Secretary

06:26 Gibote nor General Bronner. Or could I have been mistaken, sir? Is it a foreign terrorist?

06:32 Is it not?

06:33 Well, I, when the president has access to classified information, which are basically

06:42 not readily available to the public. And so perhaps the president was just talking on

06:48 the position that what happened in 2017 in Marawi, and to, you know, to base the attack

07:00 on the previous incidents that we had involving foreign entities, it may be that reason that

07:08 the president came out with that statement. But then again, I was watching the interview

07:14 of Secretary Gibote yesterday, and there was an insinuation there that foreign entities

07:21 may be involved. Being curious, let's remember during the Marawi siege in 2017, there were

07:28 quite a number of foreign terrorists involved in the attack, in the siege. And in fact,

07:34 General Bronner, after the Marawi siege happened, when the liberation was declared, immediately

07:40 he was assigned as a brigade commander of the 103rd Brigade stationed in Lanao del Sur.

07:45 And he was responsible for running after the remnants of the terrorist organization. And

07:50 there were quite a few terrorist foreign entities that were involved in the sporadic attacks

07:55 that they conducted to cause terror, not only in Lanao del Sur, but even the neighboring

08:02 provinces of Lanao del Norte, even Baguio-Danube. Prior to this attack, we received information

08:08 that there was an operation conducted by the EFP in Baguio-Danube. And so everything is

08:13 connected here, Pinky, we're talking about the presence of global international terror

08:18 networks. So I guess the president was talking on that position. And yeah, again, I said,

08:25 the president has access to classified information that nobody really has a hand on over it.

08:30 So well, we cannot discount the fact that this might be connected with the 2017 Marawi

08:36 siege, where foreign terrorists were involved.

08:38 So 2017 Marawi siege, I want to actually go back to that. That happened, horrible incident

08:46 in 2017. In 2023, this happens again in Marawi. And in the middle of a service, in the middle

08:57 of a mass, what is that trying to prove or even tell us?

09:04 Well, basically, the intention really of this radical organization, extremism is to stall

09:12 division and this unity among peoples, especially in Marawi City, where there is a thriving

09:20 and healthy relationship between Muslims and Christians. And so it has been their objective

09:29 and their mission, I guess. It's not only in the Philippines, but all over the world

09:34 to make it appear that this is a religious war, which is basically not. It's far from

09:40 it. It is purely a criminal and terroristic act. We believe in our religion that to kill

09:47 an innocent human life, a person, is tantamount to killing humanity in its entirety. So I

09:56 guess we should not be fall prey to that kind of narrative that they're trying to espouse.

10:03 This is something that I think, this is something that they also wanted to pursue in terms of

10:11 dictating what would be the relationship between the minority Muslims in the Philippines and

10:15 the majority Christians, trying to capitalize on the minority sense of being Muslims, being

10:24 a part of this country. So I guess it was deliberate in a sense because they know that

10:32 we are currently, this week, observing the Mindanao Week of Peace. They might want to

10:39 send a message across that they want to feel their presence, that despite the operations

10:46 from our troops, they want to send their pressures that they are, though small of them, are still

10:52 operating or still there, they still want to send a message that they are still capable,

10:58 though minimal in numbers.

11:00 You know, yesterday also, the officials were asked about any possible similarities with

11:06 what happened in Mindanao State University, the bombing there, and the Holo-Sulu bombing

11:12 in 2019.

11:13 Exactly.

11:14 Yeah. What can you tell us about that? Just looking back, back then, I believe about 20

11:21 people were killed. Was there any similarities that you're seeing?

11:27 Well, if we compare the attack between the Sulu attack and the bombing here in Mindanao

11:36 State University, it's safe to assume that the target has, the target, both the Sulu

11:43 and the, yesterday in MSU, have similarities, both conducted in a mass, targeted against

11:52 a particular group of people. So I say this is something that the terrorist organization

11:58 want to capitalize on, you know, trying to divide between the Muslims and the Christians,

12:09 which basically should be the thing that we need to oppose. And the way to oppose that

12:13 really is not to fall prey to this kind of narrative, fall victim to this kind of narrative,

12:21 that we may not be able to really foster a more solid understanding between and amongst

12:28 ourselves. So I guess the thing that we need to do is to come out from this stronger and

12:35 more united in our call for, you know, call for unity and understanding and tolerance

12:42 between and amongst ourselves. Yes. And peace. So I see there's a similarity. I can see the

12:47 similarity because it targets a specific group of people connected with a specific group,

12:54 specific religious belief. And also it was discussed yesterday, I think it was General

13:00 Bronner who actually said that what happened in Mindanao State University was a possible

13:07 retaliation. I know you mentioned this a while ago, on the series of military operations

13:13 that were conducted where 11 members of the Dawla Islamiyah were killed in Maguindanao

13:21 and Abu Sayyaf leader Mundi Sawadjaan also killed in Basilan. And he, I think he's the

13:27 one I believe to be behind the brains, to be the brains behind the Holo Cathedral bombing.

13:33 So the AFP is saying this could have been a retaliation. Well, Pinky, I think the AFP

13:42 is trying to, trying to keep everything possible in terms of, you know, in terms of the investigation

13:51 and so far as getting through the real culprits behind this attack. They are, I think the

13:59 part of that investigation really is to appreciate the past incidents that happened. And there

14:06 could be a strong link between this attack in MSU that we saw yesterday and the operations

14:12 that happened in the previous weeks. We know how the terrorist organization operates. Even

14:20 if they dwindle in numbers, they would really send a message across, a strong message across

14:26 in the sense yesterday, as we saw, that they may be, the numbers may be dwindling, but

14:32 they are still capable and they are still a threat to our security.

14:38 Was there a failure on intelligence here?

14:44 That I couldn't say per se, but definitely there is a failure of somewhat of the security,

14:53 you know, because this would not have happened if the security measures have been in place.

15:00 But again, the Sunday mass, it's been going on for several years without any incident.

15:09 In fact, the Dimant Borodin Nation has been hosting Sunday services for quite some time.

15:17 And the reason why we are all surprised, the MSU community was surprised, it's because

15:23 after all those years that the Mindanao State University, the Christian students and employees

15:30 in the community in Mindanao State University have been very accommodating to other beliefs

15:38 in the exercise of their beliefs. This is the first time that we saw such an attack

15:43 happen. So, but going back to your question, definitely, Pinky, I would agree that there's

15:52 a sort of security gaps that we need to look into because this would not have happened,

16:00 as I've said, if security measures have been in place tightly within and around the Dimant

16:07 Borodin Nation.

16:08 Congressman...

16:09 And it can happen. Nobody can really expect this thing to happen.

16:13 Sabi nga nila, pwede ka talagang lusutan.

16:18 Pwede, pwede. That's why we have to keep our guards up all the time. Kasi itong kalaban

16:25 natin are mga may extremist kasi ito, and they have, they are capable, they share intelligence,

16:32 they share technologies, they share every know-how with other foreign entities. This

16:41 is not just a problem confined within the Philippines. This is, in fact, an international

16:45 global menace, international global terrorist organization.

16:51 Congressman Zia Adiong, thank you so much for your time.

16:55 Thank you very much, Pinky. Thank you for having me. Good morning.

16:58 And up ahead, we speak to Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippines

17:03 Sea Commodore Jay Tariella on the reported swarming of over 135 Chinese maritime militia

17:09 vessels near the Julian Felipe Reef as authorities raise concerns over Beijing's illegal presence

17:16 in the area. This is The Source on CNN Philippines. Please stay tuned.

17:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]

17:23 (explosion)

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong | The Source

Category

Transcript

Recommended