MANILA, Philippines—A deadly weekend bombing near a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cotabato City has set off an orgy of accusations linking Moro rebels, foreign terrorists, and even supporters of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the attack.

Was the blast that killed five people and wounded dozens part of a “grand plan” by rogue elements in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to sow chaos in Mindanao, as the military has insisted?

Was the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah involved?

Or was it part of an administration plot leading to martial law, as former Speaker Jose de Venecia alleged Monday?

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales ruled out any link between the Cotabato outrage and the recent planting of bombs in Metro Manila, saying “anarchists” were behind the Metro scare to create a “scenario” ahead of Ms Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address later this month.

US military advisers were helping in the investigation even as American Ambassador Kristie Kenney said she hoped those behind Sunday’s bombing would be brought to justice.

De Venecia told reporters the rash of bombings was carried out by “nonterrorists” and could be part of a plan to declare martial law. He offered no evidence to support his claim.

“I really hope that this will not happen and I pray to God that the President will be enlightened and the generals will not allow it to happen ... Lord, please enlighten her,” De Venecia said.

De Venecia, an Arroyo supporter until he was ousted as House Speaker last year, said Ms Arroyo should realize that public opinion, the Roman Catholic Church and other churches, and the country’s foreign allies—Japan, the United States and the European Union —“will not tolerate” any attempt to change the Constitution or scrap the 2010 elections so she could stay in power.

“They are clearly laying the basis for the declaration of emergency rule,” De Venecia said.

“These events are really very suspicious ... She can dissociate herself from these elements and tell them to stop,” he added.

MILF hand seen

The Armed Forces said the Cotabato bombing was part of a scheme by rogue Moro rebels to launch more attacks in Central Mindanao to divert the attention of troops pursuing guerrilla leader Ameril Ombra Kato.

AFP spokesperson Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the military was repositioning its soldiers in the region, making them more visible in bus terminals, malls, and churches and other places to preempt future attacks.

“Based on the incidents that have transpired in the past week, their plan has started,” Brawner told reporters.

Hours after the attack near the Cotabato Immaculate Conception Cathedral, a smaller bomb exploded and injured three people in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao province, where a bomb also went off Saturday night, Brawner said.

These attacks and the explosion last week at a coffee shop in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, also in Maguindanao, which killed two civilians, were related to each other, he said.

“Their objective of course is to sow terror,” Brawner added.

Test mission

Brawner said the attack near the cathedral was a “test mission” for newly trained members of the MILF’s Special Operations Group.

The Army spokesperson, Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos, said initial investigation showed the homemade bomb was intended for churchgoers but was detonated prematurely when the bomber saw soldiers from the 38th Infantry Battalion passing through on a Lite Ace van.

Two soldiers wounded in the blast, Sergeants Freddie Millan and Precilo Collado, were recuperating in the hospital.

“The bomb matched the improvised explosive devices recovered at MILF camps last month,” Burgos said.

Possible motives

The Philippine National Police is probing the possible motive behind the Cotabato bombing.

PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa said his men were looking into the possible connection of the bombing with the recent transfer of eight detained terror suspects from Mindanao to Camp Crame national police headquarters, three botched attempts to spring other detainees from jails in Kidapawan and Cotabato, and continuing combat operations against the rebels.

Verzosa said bomb fragments recovered outside the cathedral “had the signature” of the MILF’s Special Operations Group.

“But we do not want to discount the possible involvement of other groups in Mindanao,” he said.

Asked about a military report that the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah could be involved, Verzosa said there was “no direct report” to validate this but he noted similarities between improvised explosive devices assembled by known JI and MILF rogues.

‘There is bigger agenda here’

MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu rejected allegations that his group was involved.

“We condemn the bombing and we are confident that if only police investigators will stick to the evidence they gather on site, they will come to the conclusion that the MILF is not behind the bombing,” Kabalu said.

“There is a bigger agenda here and Mindanao is just a takeoff from that plan, designed by others and not the MILF,” Kabalu said.

He referred to statements by De Venecia that the bombings could be a scenario before declaration of martial law.

No martial law

Presidential Assistant on Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza said no attempt by rebels to destabilize Mindanao would prompt Ms Arroyo to impose martial law.

“The President will continue to adhere to the long-cherished commitment of her forebears to keep democracy alive and vibrant,” Dureza said.

Supporting the military claim of an MILF plot to conduct regionwide bombings, Dureza said that since February, the MILF had conducted three different trainings in bomb-making for mostly out-of-school Moro youths it had recruited.

“These (sessions) on bomb-making were able to graduate some 100 trainees,” he said. With reports from Charlie Señase, Edwin O. Fernandez and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao; Christian V. Esguera in Manila; and contributor Arlyn dela Cruz