MANILA, Philippines – The bomb scare in the capital and the rumored early changing of the guard in the military are part of a “grand plan” to create an impression of “widespread dissent” among the people, the military said Thursday.

However, authorities could not apprehend personalities with “political ambition” who were allegedly behind the plot because there was no “direct link” yet to implicate them in any crime, said Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr.

“We have reason to believe that the suspected who are behind these rumors of the August Moon are also behind the planting of the bombs so we believe that it is part of a grand scheme, a grand plan by these groups, suspected groups,” Brawner told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.

Brawner was referring to the reported “Oplan August Moon,” wherein Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Victor Ibrado will be forced to retire early this year so that one of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s most trusted officers, Army Chief Lieutenant General Delfin Bangit, could take over.

On Sunday, a powerful explosion damages several structures in the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City. The following day, a bomb was defused at the Department of Agriculture office, also in Quezon City.

A bomb threat, which turned out to be a hoax, forced the suspension of work at the Ombudsman on Wednesday.

Brawner also denied the claim of former intelligence agent Vidal Doble that state security forces were behind the bombing incidents in the metropolis.

“We are saying that the military does not have any hand at all in the planting of the bombs in Metro Manila or the explosion that happened in the Ombudsman building,” Brawner said.

Brawner said Doble had “very doubtful motives.”

In mid 2005, Doble claimed to have wiretapped Arroyo’s phone conversations with ex-elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the 2004 elections, wherein they discussed alleged plans to rig the vote results.

Doble retracted his admission a few days after he surfaced, when he was returned to military custody. Katherine Evangelista