Moro rebels, extortionists eyed in Bukidnon bus bombing

MARAMAG, Bukidnon – Police investigators said Wednesday they had yet to determine who was behind Tuesday’s bombing of a bus that killed 11 people and injured nearly 30 others, but civilian and military officials said they suspected the explosion was the work of either a breakaway Moro rebel group or a band of extortionists.

In this photo taken late Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, and released by the Maramag Police Station of the Philippine National Police, an investigator examines a passenger bus following an explosion at Maramag township, Bukidnon province in southern Philippines. AP Photo/Maramag Police Station of the Philippine National Police

Chief Supt. Isagani Genabe Jr., Northern Mindanao police director, said investigators had recovered fragments of a mortar shell and a cell phone that was apparently used as a remote detonating device from the wreckage of the Rural Transit bus but could not say yet who the perpetrators were. Mortar shells are frequently used as improvised explosive devices in Mindanao.

Bukidnon Gov. Jose Ma. Zubiri said he was certain the New People’s Army did not carry out the attack, the second on the same bus company in the province since Nov. 6.

He said the attack was perpetrated by an extortion group, which the bus company’s management might have ignored in the past.

Zubiri said prior to the blast on Tuesday, a Rural Transit bus was also bombed on Nov. 6 in an attack that wounded three persons.

“The Nov. 6 attack was apparently a warning,” he said.

The bus that was attacked on Tuesday had come from Wao in Lanao del Sur, which is under the jurisdiction of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said it was “unthinkable that someone could do that, especially that a number of victims were students who could be on their way home for the holidays.”

“We denounce the incident, and those behind it should face justice,” he said without identifying any group.

But Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, commander of the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City, said the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which had broken away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, could have been behind the attack.

Guerrero has jurisdiction over the ARMM aside from the Zamboanga peninsula.

“Our probable suspects in bus bombing are members of the BIFF. Although the bomb went off under the area of (Eastern Mindanao Command), there was a possibility that the improvised explosive device could have been planted in Wao in Lanao, which is also covered by Western Mindanao Command,” he said.

Guerrero said the Westmincom was assisting the Eastmincom, which is based in Davao City, in the investigation.

“I believe they have already come out with the same suspect,” Guerrero said, adding that the type of bomb used in the Rural Transit attack was similar to those used in bombings blamed on the BIFF – including the one that took place in Bukidnon on Nov. 6.

Police authorities had charged a Dautin Gondak, an alleged BIFF member, for the November attack but the suspect remains at large.

In Davao City, Maj. Ezra Balagtey, Eastmincom spokesperson, said the Tuesday bomb blast in Bukidnon appeared to be the work of a BIFF group led by Dautin, the suspect in the Nov. 6 explosion.

It could be a test mission for new BIFF graduates, Balagtey said.

But Abu Misri Mama, BIFF spokesperson, said the military’s statements were outrageous.

“Bombing civilians would not benefit us. The question is that who is capable of acquiring mortar rounds to be used as IEDs. Definitely it’s from the military,” he said.

Mama also denied that they had a member by the name of Dautin Gendang or Dautin Gondak.

“The AFP is fabricating stories again to malign us,” he said.

“These perpetrators are cowards; they target innocent people and they should be placed behind bars and face justice,” Hataman said.

Speaking to the Inquirer by phone, Hataman said an in depth investigation had to be conducted to determine the real motive of the perpetrators.

“We cannot easily point our fingers to one group and conclude that they are behind the bombing, unless we can really show proof. Who knows, there may be other parties who just want to play around, especially since the government is very careful in this peace process issue,” Hataman said in reaction to the military’s claim the BIFF was behind the bombing.

Hataman said it was too early to put the blame on the BIFF, which broke away from the MILF because of disagreements over the peace talks with the government.

“Based on the investigation, the bus came from different terminals and we don’t know which among these terminals the suspects boarded and alighted,” he said.

Hataman said as far as the extortion angle was concerned, only the bus company’s management could confirm or deny it.

“For as long as the owner of the bus company will not say anything or confirm receiving letters demanding (money) from them, mahirap pa rin sabihin,” he added. With reports from Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao