Muslim leader dismisses Lascañas’ mosque-bombing claim

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — An influential Muslim religious leader in Mindanao dismissed on Wednesday the revelation made by an ex-police officer that then Davao City mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the bombing of mosques in Davao City.

Sheikh Norulam Abdullah, the leader of Muslim Imams in Maguindanao and Cotabato City, told the Inquirer by phone that there had been no indication–based on past analysis–that Duterte was involved in the mosque attacks in Davao City following the San Pedro Cathedral blast that killed six and wounded over 130 persons in 1993.

SPO3 Arturo Lascañas had claimed that Duterte paid members of the so-called Davao Death Squad P300,000 after the group bombed several mosques in the Davao provinces in 1993 in retaliation of the church blast.

READ: ‘DDS’ leader: Duterte ordered bombing of mosques

The former police officer said the DDS was divided into three groups and his group was assigned to bomb a mosque along the Diversion Road in Davao City.

Abdullah said they had an idea on who was behind the attack but would not say who. He also said Lascañas statement was garbage aimed at destroying the good relationship between Duterte and the Muslim community.

“It’s just part of destabilization by the camps of Senators Laila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes III against the present administration,” Abdullah said.

READ: Palace: Lascañas’ claims ‘part of a larger noise’

At the same time, the Muslim cleric said they fully support Duterte’s war against drugs, which already left more than 7,000 people dead since last year.

“In humanitarian and Islamic law, illegal drugs are prohibited. It slowly and indirectly kill innocent people. We are supporting the war against drugs,” he said. CDG