Government offers peace as 3 wharf bombing witnesses surface

President Arroyo again waved the olive branch to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) even as three more witnesses surfaced and identified the suspects in the bombings in Davao City that left a total of 38 people dead in less than a month.

"It is a time to contemplate the message of peace and to look into our own powers of self-redemption to wage the peace even amidst the consistent signals of conflict," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Her statement came a week after authorities announced the arrest of four suspects in the bombings.

The bomb attacks prompted Mrs. Arroyo to place Davao City under a "state of lawless violence" and ordered the immediate arrest and prosecution of the suspects.

Authorities later identified some of the suspects as MILF guerrillas.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye also said the state of lawless violence will be lifted as soon as Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, as crisis manager, submits his recommendations to the President.

"The time frame was only temporary. I guess, it’s a matter of time before this (is) lifted," Bunye said.

"I don’t know if it will be that soon. If it will be next week. But if conditions continue to improve then, maybe there would be an urgency in this declaration," he said.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the latest incidents of sporadic clashes in central Mindanao, particularly in areas identified with MILF guerrillas, would be dealt with by the government’s efforts on the peace process.

Golez noted that the peace and order situation has improved following the arrest of suspects in the bombings.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier reiterated her desire to resume the peace negotiations with the MILF even as authorities led by Duterte tagged the separatist guerrillas behind the bomb attacks.

Last week, the suspects were formally charged with multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder for the March 4 bombing of the Davao airport which killed 22 people and wounded 159 others and the April 2 bombing of the Sasa wharf in the city which left 16 people dead and 57 others wounded.

Assistant City Prosecutor Danilo Belo said the three witnesses, whose names were withheld for security reasons, confirmed one of the suspects, Akmad Esmael Mamalangkas, was at the blast site minutes before the explosion at the wharf.

Mamalangkas, an alleged MILF guerrilla, was identified by the witnesses as the leader of the group which carried out the attack.

Aside from Mamalangkas, four other suspects — Totoh Esmael Akmad, Tohami Bagundang, Jimmy Balulao and Teng Idar — were arrested last week and charged with multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.

MILF chairman Hashim Salamat and 198 other key leaders of the separatist guerrilla movement were also included in the new charge sheet.

Bagundang and Balulao reportedly admitted their participation in the April 2 bombing and pointed to Mamalangkas and Akmad who used them to carry out the mission.

Bagundang, for his part, admitted placing the bomb, stuffed inside a black shoulder bag, under one of the tables in a row of chicken barbecue stalls located outside the gates of the ferry terminal.

Balulao separately admitted his participation in the airport bombing.

Balulao’s confession prompted the police to amend the criminal charges and move for the inclusion of the other suspects in the March 4 airport blast.

Balulao admitted placing the bomb inside the backpack which he slid under a row of benches at the crowded waiting shed.

Police said they are questioning the staff and personnel of a local lodging inn in the city where the suspects reportedly stayed after successfully bombing the wharf.

The witnesses further bolstered the case against the suspects.

One of the witnesses, Corazon Espera-Quirol, provided authorities the lead on the description of the suspects who ordered food from her shortly before the bomb exploded in her chicken barbecue stall.

Quirol who was among those wounded in the blast, lost five members of her family –her mother Pablita Espera, two nieces and two nephews.