US envoy condemns Bukidnon bus bombing

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

MANILA–The United States government on Friday condemned the bloody bus bombing in the province of Bukidnon last Tuesday, which left at least 10 dead and about 30 others injured.

“We condemn any violence that takes place, such as what we have seen in the Mindanao bus bombing. It is tragic, and we need to work together with the government of the Philippines to work against that kind of terror,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip S. Goldberg told reporters.

Among those killed due to the bombing were five students of Central Mindanao University, which was a stone’s throw away from the location of the explosion in Barangay Mus-wan in the town of Maramag.

Goldberg said Washington will continue to work with Manila in dealing with such “horrible scourge of terrorism.”

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] and our special operations forces have been working together for a long time, so we will continue that effort,” Goldberg said. “We’ve had long-standing counter-terrorism cooperation with the Philippines. We’ve trained together, we’ve exercised together, we’ve advised the Philippines about counter-terrorism measures.”

While the number of US military personnel stationed in the country has dwindled over the years, their joint exercises with Philippine troops have been deemed successful as far as counter-terrorism is concerned, Goldberg said.

“We have less [US military] presence here, but we have a very successful presence. We had success in improving the ability of the AFP to carry out counter-terrorism activities. That’s what we aimed to do when we came in—help build up that capability,” the envoy said.

According to reports, the military was pointing at the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)—a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)—as behind the bombing. BIFF has already denied involvement in the attack.

The MILF is currently working with the government to establish the Bangsamoro political entity, which is aimed at achieving lasting peace in Muslim Mindanao after decades of conflict.

In Goldberg’s opinion, this latest terror attack in Bukidnon would not impact on the peace talks.

“We think the peace process should and will go forward. It’s something we want to see go forward,” he said.