Drilon condemns shooting of Saudi cleric in Zamboanga forum

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon today condemned the attempted killing of a prominent Saudi cleric during a speaking engagement in Zamboanga City, saying that such an attack is an affront to the country's adherence to religious tolerance and co-existence.

The Senate leader and Liberal Party re-electionist candidate made the statement following the shooting of Sheikh Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni, a famous Islamic scholar and activist, and Sheikh Turki Assaegh, a religious attaché at the Saudi Embassy in Manila, by an unknown assailant last March 1, 2016 during an Islamic symposium inside the Western Mindanao State University.

Reports claim that the influential al-Qarni, who has 12 million followers on social media site Twitter, is on the hitlist of the terrorist group Islamic State.

"This sort of violence has no place in a democratic and peaceful nation like the Philippines. Such brutal actions ran counter to our nation's ideals that respect, peace and tolerance must reign even amid the strongest of political, social and religious differences," Drilon said.

Drilon said that he is alarmed about the brazenness of the attempted assassination, and called on the local authorities to work hard in investigating this incident, "to prevent and discourage such acts in the future."

"Our law enforcement agencies must get to the bottom of this incident, including why and how it happened. It is important that we know everything that we need to make sure these kind of violent actions do not happen again," Drilon then said.

"Whether the victim is a foreign national or an ordinary Filipino citizen, the police and the military need to step up their intelligence network in order to prevent these acts from happening within our territory, which undermines our image as a peaceful nation," Drilon then concluded.