DAVAO CITY—Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday accused the US government of launching covert operations here that led to two cases of bombings and of interfering in the investigation of an American who was wounded apparently by his own bomb in a hotel in the city.
Duterte made the accusation in reaction to the leak of confidential US memos that fell short of tagging him as the mastermind, but said he appeared to be involved in the extrajudicial killings of crime suspects.
According to confidential cables leaked by Wikileaks, the US Embassy linked Duterte to the gangland style execution of suspected criminals in his city.
According to the cables, the US Embassy in Manila had wanted to meet with Duterte over the killings but the then mayor avoided it.
Duterte scoffed at the reports, saying “I’m not the mayor of Washington DC why should I explain to them.”
Nothing to avoid
“I have nothing to avoid,” said Duterte in his TV program aired by ABS-CBN on Sunday.
He said one of the cases that convinced him that the US government was conducting covert operations in the city was that of Michael Meiring, an American who faces a criminal case at the Regional Trial Court here in connection with an explosion in his hotel room on May 16, 2002.
Meiring was wounded in the blast and brought to a hospital here, where he had been guarded round the clock by local police. An investigation of the explosion yielded signs that the bomb that went off belonged to Meiring.
A few weeks after the blast, however, police reported that agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whisked Meiring out of the hospital where he was being treated for blast wounds.
Duterte said Meiring was spirited out to Singapore and eventually to the United States.
He said he believed Meiring’s presence in Davao and his involvement in the explosion is linked with covert operations by the US government against Moros.
“We have quite a big Muslim population in Mindanao. We never had any differences until you (US government) came into the picture,” Duterte said.
US targets
“They are your targets for coming here,” he added, addressing himself to US officials whom he said were carrying out a counterinsurgency plan called Low Intensity Conflict in the city.
He also said revelations by former Navy officer and now Sen. Antonio Trillanes about the involvement of Filipino soldiers in bombings at the Davao airport in March 2003 and the city’s seaport in April of the same year convinced him that covert US operatives were behind the bombings.
At least 20 people were killed in the airport bombing, while the seaport blast killed 15.
Duterte said this was the reason he opposed the planned holding of Balikatan, military exercises between Philippine and US forces, in the city.
Anti-Balikatan
“Why would I allow the holding of Balikatan when I know if something happens (involving US soldiers), you (US government) will not answer for it,” Duterte said.
He said top military officials told him a few days ago that the US wanted next year’s Balikatan held here.
“As the vice mayor, I will not allow it. I also heard the mayor was asked about this a few days ago and I heard that she will not also allow this to happen,” Duterte said.
The city mayor is Sara Duterte, the vice mayor’s daughter. Duterte said Davao City and the rest of the country can manage without the Americans.
“We can do military exercises even without you,” he said. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao