US envoy, VP condemn bus bombing

The US government on Friday condemned the bombing of a bus in the province of Bukidnon on Tuesday, which killed 11 people and wounded at least 41, many of them students heading home from classes at a university in the province.

“We condemn any violence that takes place, such as what we have seen in the Mindanao bus bombing,” US Ambassador to the Philippines   Philip S. Goldberg said.

“It is tragic, and we need to work together with the government of the Philippines  against that kind of terror,” he told reporters.

Vice President Jejomar Binay also joined the chorus of officials condemning the terror attack.

“The fact that the 11 lives, including those  of innocent students, were senselessly lost makes this a most deplorable act of terrorism,” Binay said in a statement.

Binay condoled with the families of the victims, saying he “shares in the grief of their loss especially so near Christmas.”

“I urge the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to take immediate steps to unmask those behind this heinous crime and bring them to justice,” he said.

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

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines  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 counterterrorism cooperation with the Philippines. We’ve trained together, we’ve exercised together, we’ve advised the Philippines about counter-terrorism measures,” he said.

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 counterterrorism 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 counterterrorism activities. That’s what we aimed to do when we came in—help build up that capability,” the ambassador said.

In a press conference, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said charges had been filed against a member of  Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) identified as Dautin Gondak. But Abu Misri Mama, BIFF spokesperson, disowned Gondak, saying the suspect is not a BIFF member. “The AFP is fabricating stories again to malign us,”  Mama said.

Roxas, during the press conference, said a reward would be given to witnesses who could  tag Gondak, who is at large. With a report from  Rima Granali in Manila