Terrorism? AFP calls Naia-3 bomb try a prank

Security measures were tighten-up at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, after authorities intercepted a suspected car bomb. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines – It was all a laughable prank.

New Year’s celebration may still be months away, but the Armed Forces of the Philippines had a laugh over the foiled “terror attempt” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, saying the “explosives” found were merely for merry-makers.

“I don’t think it was a terror attempt, those (explosive devices) were just firecrackers,” General Gregorio Pio Catapang, AFP Chief of Staff, said Tuesday.

Catapang described the firecrackers left outside Naia on Monday as pieces of locally produced pyrotechnic product called “plapla.”

He said there appears no need for a follow-up coordination between the AFP and the National Bureau of Investigation on the botched terror attempt since it was only a prank.

“We are awaiting the final report of the NBI, but as far as we are concerned it is not a terrorist attack,” Catapang said.

Through their monitoring, however, Catapang said that the cohorts may be associated with Elly Pamatong, a self-declared Messiah who claimed to have written a third testament of the Bible.

Pamatong hogged headlines when he and his associates scattered steel spikes along Roxas Boulevard in 2004, puncturing the tires of 167 vehicles.

He also ran and lost in numerous presidential elections.

“Pamatong has been notorious for doing these things so he has been part of our monitoring,” Catapang said.

“Unfortunately he was not really a threat to us so it just happened that he was again trying to present himself as a prankster who seeks attention.”

Meanwhile, a television report Tuesday night said Pamatong has denied being part of the alleged terror plot at Naia.

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