Now relatives of cousins Bernard Limba and Marlon Tuballa, who were killed in the Zamboanga bomb attack Wednesday night, are fuming mad over accusations by local police and military personnel that the fatalities were behind the blast.
Limba had been accused by police of conducting a suicide bomb attack on an eatery frequented by soldiers.
A US Green Beret was also killed in the attack and another US soldier was hurt when a bomb exploded in an eatery across the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Command (Southcom) headquarters in Zamboanga City.
"What they did was double murder. My son and nephew were killed and our reputation in the community as good citizens has been damaged because of this irresponsible statement from police officials," Tuballa’s mother, Fidela, said.
The wakes of Limba and Tuballa are being held at the Tuballa residence in Barangay Malagutay, just a few meters from the blast site.
"It is painful for us, this shame. We were the ones who lost our loved ones and now they are calling my brother and cousin bombers," Marcel, Tuballa’s elder brother, said. Marcel is a member of the local police force.
Irate and grieving, the Tuballa family said the police should focus on catching the real bomber instead of using their kin as fall guys just to please the Arroyo administration and visiting American crime investigators.
Fidela said her son and nephew had been playing the guitar inside their home when they decided to buy viands at the ill-fated eatery just before the bomb blast killed them.
The victims walked to the eatery, since it was just a stone’s throw away from their home, Fidela added.
"Before my son and my nephew went out to buy viand, I heard Bernard playing the guitar and sing his last song, Magkabalikan Pa Ba," Fidela said. Fidela’s statement was corroborated by another relative.
The victims’ family said the neighbors living close to their home and the bombed eatery are mostly their relatives and that there would be no reason for the victims to do anything that would harm these people.
"Just because he worked in Malaysia, (the police) immediately tagged my brother as a terrorist and member of the Abu Sayyaf. That is very unfair," said Alroy, Limba’s youngest brother.
Alroy said he and his brother are legitimate overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been working for FORDECO, a Chinese-owned company in Malaysia, for the last 15 years.
The Limba brothers returned to the Philippines in August to renew their passports.
They were set to return to Malaysia to resume work within the week since their passports, Alroy said, were ready for release. Alroy added that his dead brother was also issued an NBI clearance that stated he had never been involved in any criminal activity.
"My brother cannot go back to Malaysia," Alroy said, "What will happen to his poor family? I will still strive to go back so I can help them as best I can."
In making their accusation, the police were citing witness accounts that Tuballa and Limba were present in the area at the time of the blast.
However, the victims’ family said Tuballa and Limba were not the only people present in the immediate area of the blast at the time.
They said all persons who were in the area just before and during the bombing should also be checked by police for possible involvement in the attack – especially the owner of a motorcycle parked in front of the eatery.
Rather, the police feel that Limba may have set off the bomb prematurely.
Had Limba really been bent on a suicide bombing, ramming a vehicle laden with explosives into Camp Enrile would have been more effective, experts said.
This assessment was made by government anti-terrorism experts in a case analysis of the eatery bombing.
"Local terrorist groups based here are not mentally prepared to die for what they’re fighting for, unlike their counterparts in Lebanon and in Palestine," the group said.
The experts also said it is too early to draw any conclusions about the attack, as bomb experts have yet to come out with their findings and identify the type of bomb used in the attack.
Citing a study on terrorism, these experts said assembling a group of suicide bombers takes many years of preparation, including the establishment of a suicide school, which does not exist in the country.
Suicide bombers make this school their last home before they conduct an attack, studies on terrorism showed.
Before such attacks, a terrorist group must organize and indoctrinate its youth members in the ways of terrorism, the study showed.
In the context used by Islamic terrorists, the second phase of the terrorism training is to inject the idea that a person conducting a suicide attack will be blessed by Allah and the assurance that their families will be kept financially secure by the group’s leaders into the would-be suicide bomber’s mind.
The final phase of the training of a suicide bomber involves "mind-conditioning" the terrorist to erase all fear of death from his mind. This process, experts said, takes years to complete.
"The Hamas in Lebanon are experts on (suicide attacks). Here, the time is not yet ripe," a police anti-terrorism expert told The STAR.
Limba was staying in his aunt’s home in Zamboanga City to await the release of his passport. While there, he kept company with Tuballa.
Ludy said her husband would regularly return to Dipolog City to check on her and their children, especially Jeffric, who was especially close to Limba.
"Now that he is gone, what will happen to us? I am jobless and I am pregnant. Now they have accused (my husband) of being a member of the Abu Sayyaf," Ludy said in Visayan as she cried.
"My husband is a very good man and father," Ludy added. "He always saw to it that our children were being taken care of properly. He even told me to take extra care of myself because I am pregnant."
Ludy appealed to President Arroyo for help in sustaining her children’s education, asking that the government grant scholarships to the Limba children instead of hurling accusations of terrorism against their dead father.
"My children have already lost interest in continuing their schooling because they lost their father," a tearful Ludy said.
Limba’s eldest son, Richie, is a grade six student who wanted to be a soldier. Now, the grieving boy fears he will have to stop studying because of his family’s poverty. "My father is gone and I may not be able to continue my schooling because we are poor," Richie said.
Jeffric, Limba’s youngest son, seemed yet untouched by the grim reality of his father’s death as he told The STAR that "Papa is just asleep."
Meanwhile, Tuballa’s 21-year-old fiancee, Sarah Bocnot said she and her husband-to-be were to be wed within the year. She is four months pregnant with Tuballa’s baby and has promised her betrothed’s mother that she will raise the child to recognize Tuballa as his or her father.
Both Bocnot and Ludy have asked the authorities to help them "instead of pushing a crime they did not commit on our loved ones."
"We have not forgotten the viciousness of the American soldiers during the occupation from 1899 to 1917, when they massacred 50-100 Filipino civilians for every American combatant killed," Beltran said.
"Now, civilians in Zamboanga are in grave danger of being tagged and arrested as Abu Sayyaf supporters, if not members," Beltran added, "the American military is not known for taking attacks against their ranks lightly."
Beltran also said that while "investigations into the bombing in Zamboanga City should, by all means, continue," these investigations would be conducted "with care" and without any indiscriminate or mass arrests.
According to Beltran, some 120 civilians are still languishing in municipal jails in Basilan, Zamboanga and Manila on suspicion that they are members of the Abu Sayyaf or supporters of the bandit group. – Roel Pareño, Romel Bagares