DAVAO CITY — Mayor Rodrigo Duterte expressed less enthusiasm on the arrest of an alleged suspect implicated in the bombing incident at the gate of the Davao City Overland Transport Terminal on February 14, 2005.
In a Philippine Information Agency dispatch, Duterte said Manap Mentang was arrested six months after the incident but the court dismissed the case due to insufficient pieces of evidence.
“I am not very enthusiastic on his arrest because he was released earlier by the court,” he said.
Mentang was arrested in Barangay Panatan, Pigcawayan, Cotabato by virtue of standing warrants of arrest issued separately by Davao City and Cotabato City Regional Trial Courts for multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.
He was implicated in the Sasa Wharf bombing in 2003 which claimed the lives of 23 civilians and the Overland Transport Terminal bombing during the Valentine’s Day in 2005 which killed a grade-school pupil.
Mentang was arrested in Santa Ana, Manila in October 2005 but was released from jail after three months due to lack of evidence against him.
He was arrested lately in Barangay Panatan, Pigcawayan, Cotabato by virtue of standing warrants of arrest issued separately by Davao City and Cotabato City Regional Trial Courts for multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.
Mentang is now under the custody of the Philippine National Police in Davao City.
