PNP supports Army’s recommendation of martial law in Sulu

August 26, 2020

The chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) expressed support for the recommendation of Army chief Lt. General Cirilito Sobejana to place the province of Sulu under martial law following the twin blasts in Jolo where at least 15 people were killed on Monday

"This will allow the military and police more  operational flexibility to carry out law enforcement operations against domestic threat groups in the area,” Police General Archie Francisco Gamboa said Wednesday.

The explosion in Barangay Walled City also resulted in the death of one Special Action Force (SAF) member and several soldiers.

Gamboa also mobilized the Philippine Bomb Data Center (PBDC) and the PNP crime laboratory for technical  support to the ongoing investigation.

He said PBDC analysts will seek to determine the bomb signature of the explosives based on reconstruction of forensic evidence gathered by the crime laboratory and other security forces that responded to the incident.

“Any specific bomb signature that will be determined from the technical analysis will be compared with known bomb signatures from previous incidents that are stored in the PBDC database to possibly identify the person or group to whom the bomb signature can be associated with,” Gamboa said. Ella Dionisio/DMS