Investigators look for evidence among wreckage after a car bomb explosion in Cotabato city, on the southern island of Mindanao on August 5, 2013. A powerful bomb exploded at the centre of the southern Philippines city of Cotabato on August 5, killing five people, police said. AFP PHOTO / Mark Navales
COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The city government has declared a month-long mourning following Monday’s car bomb attack that killed eight people and wounded at least 40 others.
Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, the city administrator, said the Philippine flag at city hall would be flown at half mast to sympathize with the families of those who died.
“We condemn this act and we sympathize with the victims and their families,” Guiani-Sayadi said, even as she added the city government was taking charge of the hospital expenses of the victims.
Guiani-Sayadi said she was the target of the 5:30 p.m. car bomb attack, which also triggered a fire that swept at least six business establishments and residential houses.
Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. earlier said the perpetrators could be “big politicians who paid bombers-for-hire” to kill him or his sister.
He also offered unspecified reward money to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.
The Cotabato City blast happened more than a week after a bomb exploded in a crowded restaurant in Cagayan de Oro City, which left six people dead and dozens wounded.
In Davao City, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he might call off the week-long Kadayawan Festival.
Duterte said he has been trying to assess how far security forces could go in securing the city against threats, and might scrap the festival if he could not be assured of the public’s safety.
“Two months ago, we received an alert that Davao City, Zamboanga, General Santos and Cotabato are targets, then those reports (about the bombings) happened,” Duterte said.
“Prudence tells me that as mayor, I have to evaluate and assess, reevaluate and assess various intelligence reports, collect them and then, make a decision, whether or not we will proceed with Kadayawan,” Duterte told reporters on Wednesday.
“If I think in my guts, that lives are in danger, then, I might scrap the whole thing off altogether,” he added.
But Duterte said he would make the crucial decision on August 13, only three days before the culmination of the festival.
He said that the US, Canada and Australia have been in much better position to assess the situation because they have developed a superior intelligence gathering system. “The alert is so specific, what else do you want us to rely on?” Duterte asked, referring to the earlier alert issued by the foreign embassies of Australia, US and Canada, specifying the cities of Davao, Zamboanga, Cotabato as targets of attacks by groups allegedly linked to Al Qaeda terror group.
He said people should refrain from using backpacks to avoid the hassle of being checked by the police.
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