Teodoro: MSU Marawi blast due to ‘failure to appreciate intelligence’

Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Friday said the bombing incident inside Mindanao State University in Marawi City on 3 December 2023 might have been caused by "failure to appreciate intelligence reports."

Teodoro said he sees no failure of intelligence on the part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. 

"In terms of the moniker of failure of intelligence, I'd like to echo Senator Dela Rosa's statement after we briefed him that there was a failure to appreciate intelligence," Teodoro said in a television interview. 

"And it is safe for me to say that had there been police or Armed Forces people inside the MSU compound, then appropriate security measures would have been done that would have forestalled this incident," he added.

Likening it to the University of the Philippines campuses, Teodoro cited the fact that the MSU-Marawi "has its  own security force." AFP and PNP personnel cannot enter the campus premises "without their request or unless they have prior consent," he said.

"I think this is something that appropriate authorities must look into," he added.

Teodoro said the incident occurred after a series of military operations against the Dawlah Islamiyyah-Maute group and Sulu's Abu Sayyaf  Group. 

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has also gone against the elements of the Maute group and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Amid the reported activities of these rebel groups, Teodoro said the security sector has been vigilant in tracking down their terroristic activities. 

"If there were lapses on the part of AFP, naturally we will take corrective action," he added.

Teodoro has vowed the DND and the AFP will be more vigilant and aggressive in monitoring extremism and terrorism. 

"I can confidently say that it is not a failure of intelligence on the part of either PNP or the AFP," he said. 

Asked if it was the MSU's appreciation of intelligence that failed, Teodoro said, "that is still undergoing thorough scrutiny right now."

"The fact is that the MSU has its own security force and AFP and PNP personnel are not allowed to enter MSU without their request or unless they have prior consent but I think after the incident, they have requested a company of police and armed forces personnel to be in there," he added.

AFP chief Romeo Brawner Jr. previously said that they are looking into all possible angles behind the bombing incident, which resulted in the death of four individuals' death and injury to 50 others.