PNP clueless on bombers

The Philippine National Police (PNP) remains in the dark regarding the bomb scare that has gripped Metro Manila and Central Mindanao over the past few days.

This developed as police intelligence agents pursued their investigation on the possible links of the so-called Indigenous People’s Federal State Army (IPFSA), which has claimed responsibility for the bomb scare, to communist and Muslim secessionist groups as well as radical political groups.

PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza noted that the bomb scare was apparently part of a bigger plot to destabilize the Arroyo administration.

"We are actually looking at some aspects of destabilization. This is where we are focusing our efforts," he said.

Mendoza also downplayed the capability of the culprits to conduct a full-blown terrorist attack, adding that the group could be merely trying to draw public attention.

Scanty PNP records on the IPFSA showed that the group’s leader, identified as Ike de los Reyes, was a close ally of Art Tabara and Nilo de la Cruz, ranking commanders of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA) of the New People’s Army (NPA)’s urban hit squad Alex Boncayao Brigade.

But they were not ruling out the possibility that the IPFSA was also connected to the two Muslim separatist groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Sources from the police intelligence community also said IPFSA followers generally come from minority tribes of Christians and Muslims alike.

On the other hand, military intelligence agents are reportedly looking into reports that the IPFSA also carried bomb-scare operations in Central Mindanao.

Probers were specifically looking at the group’s possible involvement in the foiled attempts to set off bombs in General Santos City in December last year and in a radio station in Cotabato City early this year.

"Sa tingin namin, nagpapakilala lamang ang mga ito (The way we look at it, they just want to introduce themselves)," Mendoza noted.

He also pointed out that judging from the materials used to make the improvised bombs using powder from rifle grenades and mortars, the explosives were not meant to harm or kill, but just to sow fear and instability among the people.

Leaflets were found, along with the bombs, claiming they were planted by the IPFSA, saying they are pushing for a federal form of government which would divide the country into three federal states – Indigenous Peoples, Muslims and Christians.

A PNP report to Malacañang stated that the principal motive for planting the explosives in public places was "clearly political in nature."

A Camp Crame official said there are existing armed indigenous groups in Mindanao who are being monitored by local authorities.

Some were members of local militias while other belonged to the Citizens’ Armed Force Geographical Units created by the government as community defense mechanisms against communist rebels.

The source identified some of these active tribal groups as the Higaonons, the Talaingods and the Manobos of Mindanao.

MNLF says fake tribal leaders run IPFSA

A leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which has forged a peace treaty with the government in 1996 theorized that the IPFSA was being operated by fake tribal leaders exploiting the plight of the minority tribes for their own aggrandizement.

Habib Mujahid Hassim, chairman of the MNLF’s Islamic Command Conference, said the IPFSA’s ploy to use federalism issue indicated that they were just trying to catch public attention.

Hassim supported suspicions that the bomb scare was meant to destabilize the Arroyo leadership.

"It could be possible that fake tribal leaders have teamed up with disgruntled politicians to undermine the administration of President Arroyo," Hassim said.

He brushed aside reports that detained former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Nur Misuari was behind the bomb scare. "I personally know Brother Misuari. He will not resort to such activities."

Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez invited the IPFSA to sit on the negotiating table to discuss their grievances against the government.

Golez issued the invitation even as he expressed suspicions that the IPFSA is not existent, and was merely a group of few people "trying to deliver a message to President Arroyo."

"This was the first time we heard of such group. Some say that there might be really no such group, but was merely trying to attract attention and be talked about," Golez said.

He dismissed the possibility that terrorist groups were behind the bomb scare.

"We’re not that concerned because it seems they are not ready to hurt people since what they set up cannot be detonated," Golez added.

Nevertheless, Golez said his overture for a peaceful dialogue stays. "We can talk and they can tell us their message. If they are really a federalist group, they can just tell us (their message) by sending a manifesto or message," Golez said.

"If they really have a political demand and they want their message across to change our form government, we can explain to them that if they want any change, this must go through a process that we must all follow," Golez added.

Golez recalled there have been proponents of federalism in the past, but clarified that they did not resort to violent means to advance their cause.

Among them was the Mindanao Independence Movement led by Reuben Canoy who even raised a flag and declared Mindanao as an independent state.

However, the movement faltered and eventually fizzled out.

In another development, a source in the police intelligence community said they were trying to unearth more information about the IPFSA. "What we have is a four-page report which is only less than four months old," the source said.

"We are working to get more information on the group...personalities behind it and what do they really want," he added.

The IPFSA first emerge when it claimed responsibility for planting a home-made bomb in General Santos City on Christmas Eve last year. — With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero, AFP