Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri says that the Philippines is in safe hands as shown to them during an executive session regarding the recent bombing of Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City.

"We should not be alarmed, we should not be afraid, we should go about doing our work and leisure at the same pace. Wag tayong matakot (Let us not be afraid), the armed forces and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have it under control," Zubiri said in an interview.

It can be recalled that Zubiri invited the PNP, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the National Security Council (NSC), and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) for an executive session to brief the Senate on the situation regarding the recent bombing of the MSU campus, which claimed four lives. 

"The military and PNP have it under control," Zubiri stressed.

Present during the briefing were Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., PNP Chief Police Gen. Benjamin Acorda, Jr., NICA Director General Ricardo de Leon, NICA Assistant Director General Theodore Libardo, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, and NSC Deputy Director General for Operations Marlo Guloy.

Zubiri mentioned that there's already a massive manhunt against four persons of interest. 
"Meron nang mga (There's already) persons of interest na hinahabol nila (that they are pursuing) which is good news, of course we're not at liberty to say who, which group, where they're located," he added.
 
Asked whether or not the information that the Islamic State (IS) was responsible for the Sunday morning explosion at MSU had been validated, Zubiri said he cannot confirm it.  

"They're now securing all high level possible threat areas, which are places where the public go to and there's more military and police presence all over the island Mindanao since [there's] heightened level of alert together with Metro Manila," he said.

"Pero talagang nagkakaroon ng radicalization muli after Marawi siege. Ito'y mga kamag-anak, mga kaibigan sa mga namatay sa (There's really a radicalization after the Marawi Siege. These are the relatives and friends of those who died from the) Marawi siege. So we have to urge the BARMM government together with the local officials na i-monitor talaga itong mga (to monitor these) radicalization efforts, hindi mawawala yan e (that won't go away)," he said.

IS-linked Maute Group and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) laid siege in the Islamic City of Marawi in 2017 where thousands of people were killed, including civilians.

"I think naman sa lahat ng sitwasyon magkakaroon talaga ng problema ng (in all situations there will always be a problem of) radicalization whether you're far right or far left, or [in] this case religious radicalization. So kailangan imonitor lang, itong mga extremists na ito (So we need to monitor these extremists)," he added.

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