Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was offering P2 million in reward money to anyone who can provide information that will lead to the arrest of the suspects behind the two instances of mall cinema bombings that hit Davao city +-Monday evening.
The suspects in the September 16 twin bombing of cinemas in this city have been identified. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said they have identified the suspects’ physical looks, and even the name and affiliations of the second suspect.
In reviewing the refined footages from the malls’ closed circuit television (CCTV), Duterte and members of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) and the Intelligence group of Philippine National Police (PNP), determined that two suspects belonged to the same terrorist group.
Suspect number two was the one who bought 21 pieces of nine-volt batteries at around 4 p.m. on the same day the explosion happened. The batteries were later identified as those used in the improvised explosive device (IED) that exploded inside the cinemas.
Davao City Police Office chief Ronald Dela Rosa, however, said they could not divulge the name and identities yet of the two suspects because of continuous police pursuit operations.
As for the third suspect, Dela Rosa said the man was not “seen in the Gaisano Mall but he is present in SM. Based on the statements of the mall workers, they have a synchronized movement with the first suspect (the one who planted the bomb on both cinemas) and they both have the same outfit and bag.”
He also added that the SM City Davao movie cashier recalled that the third suspect kept asking how many people were inside Cinema 1.
Mayor Duterte said he is considering additional P1 million reward to those who can give information on the third suspect. Last Thursday, Duterte announced a P1 million bounty for each of the two suspects
