COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A bomb blast greeted the arrival of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, who was here for a forum of those short-listed for officer-in-charge governor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The explosion happened some four blocks away from tightly secured venue at Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Center here.
No one was hurt in the 1:20 p.m. explosion of an 81-millimeter improvised explosive device along Sinsuat Avenue, not far from placard and streamer-bearing demonstrators chanting their all-out support to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s demand for the creation of a sub-state, said Senior Superintendent Roberto Badian, the city police chief.
Unfazed, Robredo continued with what he came here for. He said that with the more than 50 candidates for OIC-governor and several other posts, the President would like to make the committee selection of aspirants “very inclusive and as public as possible.”
Some of candidates for OIC governor and vice governor appeared Tuesday to present their platform of government, mostly attuned to the Aquino government’s roadmap to peace and progress.
The DILG official list of eight for the highest ARMM post included Mujiv Hataman of Basilan, Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, Ali Sanchez, Macabangkit Lanto, Saidamen Pangarungan, Dimas Pundato and Normal Sharief, all of Lanao del Sur, and Eid Kabalu, former MILF spokesperson.
Kabalu earlier complained that he was included in the vice-gubernatorial list when he applied for the top post.
Amid fears that the selection process might end up as an “exercise in futility” if the Supreme Court ruled against RA 10503 — the law that reset the 2011 ARMM polls to 2013 and allowed the President to appoint OICs — Robredo cautioned skeptics not to entertain speculations.
“We don’t plan based on speculation; we are being prepared to address possible changes in case the court decides otherwise,” the DILG chief said.