Department of Justice(DOJ)

Resending to you our reply to your request for information dated 25 December 2016 for monitoring purposes. Note that this request for information was already acted upon within the 15 day working period. _______________________________________________________________________ FROM: ATTY. ERICKSON H. BALMES Undersecretary FOR: Mr. Joseph Hontanosas THRU: Ms. Irene Dulin Head, Communications Division SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO THE FOI QUERY ON THE REQUEST OF DOCUMENT RELATING TO THE DAVAO NIGHT MARKET BOMBING, ITS INVESTIGATION AND SUBSEQUENT ARREST OF PERPETRATORS DATE: 06 January 2016 Greetings! This is to acknowledge receipt of your query through the eFOI portal dated 25 December 2016 requesting for any documents relating to the Davao Night Market Blast Bombing, its investigation and the arrest of the perpetrators. Relative to the incident, Sec. Vitaliano N. Aguirre II issued Department Order No. 585 for the designation of personnel from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to coordinate with each other and with personnel from other law enforcement agencies with regard to the investigation on the 2 September 2016 explosion in Davao City. Periodic reports/updates are to be submitted to Undersecretary Antonio T. Kho, Jr. in relation to such investigations. Along with Usec. Kho, the Secretary of Justice also named Janet Grace D. Fabrero, Regional Prosecutor of Region 11, Nestor N. Ledesma City Prosecutor of Davao City and Atty. Arnold Rosales, Chief of NBI Southeastern Mindanao Regional Office in the said Department Order. Moreover, a case entitled “Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation & Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) v. TJ Tagadaya Macabalung aka “Abu Tufael,” “Abu Tufail,” Wendell Apostol Facturan aka “Wendell Apostol Facturan,” aka “Muraimin,” Musalli Mustafa aka “Musalli Mustapha,” aka “Mus,” aka “Abu Hurayra,” aka “Miming” was filed with the National Prosecution Services for violation of R.A. No. 9516 and R.A. No. 10591. Additionally, the respondents were arrested while on board a motorcycle during a checkpoint operation dated 4 October 2016 at about 3:30 p.m. in Cotabato City. During the arrest the policemen were able to recover several firearms, cellphones and IED materials/components from the respondents. The respondents were then taken to the 6th Infantry Division in Camp Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao. During the inquest proceeding, respondents opted to undergo a preliminary investigation and waived Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code. The respondents filed their separate counter-affidavits. Relative to this, Senior State Prosecutor Peter L. Ong recommended that the Resolution be approved and that respondents be indicted for one (1) count of violation of Section 28 paragraph (a), in relation to Section 3 paragraph (dd) (1) (i), of R.A. No. 10591 and one (1) count for violation to Section 3 of P.D. No. 1866, as amended by Section 1 of R.A, No. 9516. Attached herewith are the following documents: 1.) A copy of Department Order No. 585 dated September 3, 2016 and 2.) The Resolution approved by Prosecutor General Claro A. Arellano dated 18 October 2016. We hope this sufficiently answers your questions. Thank you and best regards. ATTY. ERICKSON H. BALMES (sgd.) Undersecretary