• PH is well, stable — President Duterte
• President Duterte condoles with Resorts World Manila victims
• Palace reassures public Resorts World incident not a terrorist act

President Duterte made the pronouncement following his visit to the 63 soldiers who are confined at the Camp Edilberto Evangelista Station Hospital after sustaining injuries in recent encounters with local terror group Maute in Marawi.

The President spoke with the wounded soldiers and provided them with financial assistance worth ₱100,000. He also awarded each soldier with medals and handed out firearms to the injured troops who fought in Marawi.

Speaking to the media after the hospital visit, the Chief Executive underscored that the government has to save lives and that the military must also be extra careful not to kill civilians.

Duterte said that while he can end the war in 24 hours, he is mindful that there should be minimal collateral damage.

“It is not easy to ponder kung ikaw sundalo ka and you know that you have killed children and civilians. Hindi ganon kadali ‘yan, mabigat sa konsensya ‘yan. And ako, I also realized that that is my bolden duty is to save lives. Not to destroy,” President Duterte said.

Duterte said the Marawi crisis was planned and that the Armed Forces will deal with the problem, including those who funded the terrorists.

“I will not hesitate the armed might of the Republic of the Philippines, the Armed Forces, to use every power available in their hand to quell the rebellion and terrorism,” Duterte said.

“In the days ahead we will arrest all of them. Number one ‘yung nag produce ng shabu, nagbigay ng pera sa terorista, they will all be arrested, whether politicians or not,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Duterte dispelled speculations that the Resorts World Manila incident was a terror attack.

“That is not the work of the ISIS. The work of the ISIS is more cruel and brutal. They would just simply kill people for nothing. Not even for a reason. And that was the reason why the world today has bonded together to fight the scourge of terrorism,” Duterte said. ### PND

The President arrived around 11 pm to personally condole with the family of the victims in two funeral homes in Arnaiz Street in Pasay City and Heritage Park in Taguig City.

In Veronica Funeral Homes, the Chief Executive met privately with the bereaved families of four of the victims, namely Hing Tung Tsung, Lai Wei-Chung, Lai Yu-Chieh and Carmelita dela Cruz.

Around midnight, the President then went to the nearby Rizal Funeral Homes, also in Pasay City, to pay his respects to another victim of the incident, Eleuterio Reyes.

He then proceeded to Heritage Park in Taguig to pay his last respects to Raoul B. Viray and Elizabeth Gonzales.

Viray was a shipping industry official. Gonzales was the wife of Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales, Jr.

Malacañang had earlier expressed condolences to the victims of the Resorts World Manila incident.

The Chief Executive himself dispelled speculations that the Resorts World Manila incident was a terror attack.

“That is not the work of the ISIS. The work of the ISIS is more cruel and brutal. They would just simply kill people for nothing. Not even for a reason. And that was the reason why the world today has bonded together to fight the scourge of terrorism,” Duterte said. ###PND

Malacañang on Sunday, June 4, reassured the public that the attack that happened at Resorts World Manila was not a terrorist act.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella made the assurance while announcing in a radio interview that authorities have already identified the suspect of the deadly incident last Friday.

Abella said the police identified the gunman as Jessie Carlos, who was from San Lazaro, Manila.

Abella said according to Carlos’ wife, the suspect was “addicted to gambling”.

“So we just like to say that we like to put the worries of the general public to rest para hindi po sila mabahala kaya po minadaling mailabas ito para hindi na po naliligalig ang mga tao na that this could be some form of terrorist attack, hindi po,” Abella said over government-run Radyo ng Bayan, reiterating that Carlos was merely “emotionally disturbed.”

Meanwhile, Abella gave the latest update on the situation in Marawi City noting there have been 20 civilians killed by the local terrorist group while authorities have rescued 1,271 civilians.

He said the number of enemies killed remains at 120 as the Palace is still awaiting for consolidated reports.

He added that the military has recovered 98 firearms.

“Government casualties those killed in action, 38; wounded in action, we’re still awaiting for consolidated reports,” he said.

Abella noted that the current focus of operations remains to be the clearing of Marawi of militants who are still in the area; the continued rescue of trapped residents in Marawi; the continued recovery of civilian casualties and victims; and assistance to relief operations.

On another issue, Abella conveyed the Philippine government’s condolences to the victims of the latest incident in London. 

“We’d like to say that our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and the families of the very sad events in London. Acts such as these touched not only the people of London, they also touched all peace-loving people in the global community,” he said.###PND