JOLO, SULU, Sunday 13 March 2011:- Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Jesse M. Robredo, in an unannounced visit, flew in today to personally inspect the scene of the March 10, 2011 bomb blast which partially damaged a school and claimed four lives and injured many others.
Secretary Robredo was accompanied in his inspection tour of the scene of the bloody incident at Scott Road, Jolo by Governor Abdusakur M. Tan and other local officials.
The Secretary’s short tour have nonetheless allayed the fears of the populace due to the attention national officials are giving the incident.
Robredo also inspected the cathedral which was damaged on Christmas Day last year resulting also from a bomb blast, and the Municipal Police Station which was seriously damaged in a blast in 2009. The Secretary also proceeded to the nearby PNP Headquarters which is the subject of a relocation plan for it to be transferred to a more conducive area.
MEANWHILE, in a related development, Governor Abdusakur M. Tan called an emergency meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) on Saturday, 12 March 2011 to assess the peace and order situation in view of the recent bombing incident of March 10.
Despite the short notice, the PPOC emergency meeting was well attended and there was a quorum.
The Governor, who is also the Chairman of the PPOC, called the meeting to order and there was a free and open discussion on wide-ranging matters relative to maintaining peace and order with reference to the latest incident.
A resolution was unanimously passed on the creation and constitution of an Independent Investigating Body to look at past similar incidents which had remained unresolved in addition to the latest one.
The composition of the investigating body shall be determined by the PPOC and will be made public.
Other resolutions dealt with the recall of PNP personnel to their original stations and matters relating to the misrepresentation of the word Muslim.
(Office of the Provincial Governor of Sulu)
