Robredo: SAF man linked to bus blast still not talking

Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said he continued to trust the elite Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in spite of the alleged involvement of two of its members in the January 2011 bombing of a bus in Makati City that killed four people.

“I’m confident that no other officials or officers (of the SAF) were involved,” Robredo said, adding that the SAF, now under the leadership of Director Catalino Cuy, had undergone changes since the incident.

On Wednesday, charges of murder were filed against Police Officer 2 Arnold Mayo, a SAF member, at the Department of Justice for the bombing of a Newman Goldliner bus on the northbound lane of Edsa on Jan. 25, 2011.

The Southern Police District said eyewitnesses pointed to Mayo as the person who allegedly planted the bomb after he and another SAF member, PO3 Jose Torralba, boarded the bus in Baclaran.

They then got off shortly before the explosion as the bus reached the corner of Edsa and Buendia Avenue.

But Robredo conceded that a deeper investigation was needed to establish Mayo’s motive, if indeed he was the bomber.

“The suspect, Mayo, is not saying anything. So we need to do a deeper background check on this person,” he said.

The two SAF members made news on Jan. 26 this year, a year after the bus explosion, when they attempted to open a vintage bomb at a welding shop in Bicutan, Taguig City.

The bomb accidentally exploded as they tinkered with it, killing Torralba and three others.

Robredo said he would not speculate as to whether the bus bombing was part of a destabilization plot against the Aquino administration.

“It’s not an overnight effort to get rid of all the problems of the police organization,” the secretary said.