By Rommel F. Lopez
Davao archbishop and CBCP president Romulo Valles blesses the marble marker bearing the names of the 15 people who died at the 2016 Roxas Night Market Bombing. The marker is part of the “Tree of Life” memorial for the victims. (photo from the Davao City Facebook Page)
Davao City – President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown commemorated the deadly 2016 Roxas Night Market with a Holy Mass celebrated by Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles.
The Mass was held at the “Tree of Life” memorial marker that commemorates the bombing that killed 15 people who were at the famous night market of the city.
City officials including the survivors and the relatives of the victims were in attendance.
In his homily, Valles noted how Davaoeños came together and the goodness that swelled” after the “evil” incident.
“In a sense, there was that tragic event but right away we stood up with goodness and unity,” he said.
He added that tough it sounds “cliché”… but the only thing we can do is to counter that evil with goodness and love for each other.”
“That tragedy produced in us a common humanity, a common identity in us all as Davaoeños and that is what we are celebrating today,” he also said.
Valles, who is also the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, blessed the marble marker bearing the names of those who died in the bombing.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is on a medical leave, was not present during the Mass. She instead sent a message which was read after the Mass.
“The 2016 Roxas night market bombing serves as to remember for us to always be vigilant,” she said.
She encouraged the security force and fellow public officials “to always go the extra mile to ensure that what happened here that fateful night of September 2 will never happen anywhere in Davao City ever again.”
15 people and scores were injured when a bomb exploded at 10:17PM of September 2, 2016 at the city’s famous night market market along Roxas Avenue in the city’s central business district, some 100 meters from the main campus of the Ateneo de Davao University.
On October 2, 2016, three of the ten suspects were arrested. The arrested are linked to the terrorist Maute Group which has ties with the similar militant Islamic terror group Abu Sayyaf.
“We are very confident that it would be denied because we presented a witness who was part of that group who actually witnessed everything, almost everything, so we filed a motion to discharge him as one of the accused,” he said.
Taguig City prosecutor Vincent Villena told reporters after the Mass that he is confident that the Taguig City Regional Trial Court which hears the case against the suspects will deny the motion to bail filed by the seven suspects citing the strong evidence and the statements of witnesses, including one who was part of the group that plotted the incident of the suspects who turned state witness.
“We are very confident that it would be denied because we presented a witness who was part of that group who actually witnessed everything, almost everything, so we filed a motion to discharge him as one of the accused,” he said.
The seven suspects behind the bombing, who are alleged to be members of the Maute Group, are Wendel A. Facturan, Zack Jaron V. Lopez, TJ T. Macabalang, Alisa A. Mamasapano, Musali U. Mustapha, Jessy Vincent G. Original and Jackson M. Usi.
The suspects were initially held at the City Jail in Maa, Davao City but were later moved to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City in February 2018 after the Supreme Court approved the request of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and city and jail officials for their transfer of detention and venue of trial citing them as “high-risk inmates”.