MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday slammed Sen. Leila De Lima for asking in the aftermath of twin bomb attacks in Jolo, Sulu late last month how the government is using its intelligence funds.

The IED blasts, inside the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral and in its parking lot, left 22 people dead and wounded dozens others.

In a statement Monday, the detained lawmaker said that President Rodrigo Duterte, despite his “gangster-like” antics, cannot protect Filipinos from terrorists.

“The first was Marawi, now Jolo and Zamboanga. His threats are nothing but empty words to terrorists. To put it bluntly, he is mighty in words, but inept in action,” she said.

De Lima added: “What are our intelligence assets doing, or where are the funds to run intelligence gathering?”

The senator also said that Duterte’s hasty pronouncement that suicide bombers were behind the bombings is “highly irresponsible” as it “adds more confusion and fear among the people.”

The Philippine National Police also believes that both blasts at the Jolo cathedral were cases of suicide bombing. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, for its part, has not ruled out suicide bombing but is also looking into leads that it was not.

Palace: De Lima is talking nonsense

In response, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo accused De Lima of “talking nonsense” and of being “indifferent if not callous” to security personnel.

“De Lima is blaming the intelligence community and questioning how intelligence fund was being spent. The fact that the soldiers were not able to detect terrorists who disguised themselves as churchgoers is no reason for this criminally accused legislator to be insensitive as to blame them for the tragedy,” Panelo said.

Duterte’s mouthpiece added: “She claims that the president cannot protect the people from the terrorists with his threatening words, forgetting that this is the same president who crushed the dreaded and ruthless ISIS and their local counterparts in the Marawi siege.”

Mindanao remains under martial law, partially because, the government said, Islamic State-inspired terrorists could still regroup and recruit.

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Panelo also claimed that all of Mindanao would have been in chaos had the president not declared and requested to prolong the implementation of martial law there.

Panelo last week: There may have been lapses in security

Last week, the president’s spokesman said it was reasonable to conclude that there were shortcomings on the part of troops.

“There may be some lapses in security. How they were able to put there—is that a motorcycle with a bomb—despite the fact that there were soldiers securing the place,” Panelo said in a press briefing.

He added: “If you have security there and there is one or two bombs being placed inside, then there must be lapse in security. There is no other reasonable conclusion.”

Director General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief, also admitted there was a security lapse in the area in an interview on CNN Philippines.

He said that because there was no previous incident related to the threat there, this might have been the reason that the AFP became “relaxed.”