3 workers hurt in Pikit grenade attack

COTABATO CITY – Three workers of a US-funded road project were wounded after unidentified men lobbed a grenade at their office in Pikit, North Cotabato late Tuesday.

Provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Federico Dulay identified the victims as engineers Mario Tabusares, Alfredo Cabardo, and Damrod Dalangin, utility worker of Growth with Equity in Mindanao Phase 2 (GEM2).

Dulay said two unidentified men, riding tandem on a motorcycle, hurled a grenade in front of the GEM office leaving the three victims seriously wounded.

"Two grenades were hurled at the GEM office, fortunately, only one exploded," according to town police chief Inspector Elias Dandan.

The suspects, who were described wearing baseball caps, fled after the attack.

Police said there are no initial indications that the attack was linked to al-Qaeda linked militants who have staged bombing attacks in the province.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, however, claimed the grenade attack may have been prompted by GEM2’s refusal to pay "protection money" to suspects who have been demanding such payments through text messages.

The three victims were part of a GEM2 road project which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to connect Pikit town proper to the 3,000 hectare Buliok complex, the former stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which was converted into a peace zone by the government.

Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan, for his part, downplayed the possibility of extortion triggering the incident.

Sultan, however, did not elaborate what could have motivated the grenade attack.

The town of Pikit is located near the vast Liguasan Marsh, a 220,000 hectare marshland which is a known haven of armed criminal groups.

Their presence in the area has been a major irritant between the MILF and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) observing a ceasefire agreement since 2003.

AFP’s Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana said the incident could be some form of harassment by interest groups against GEM2 and USAID personnel undertaking projects in Mindanao.

Obaniana said there have been similar incidents like the Malmar-Malitbog irrigation project in Carmen, North Cotabato, where several interest groups are trying to discourage the construction and full implementation of the projects.

Obaniana said authorities would have to look deeper into the case to see if the GEM2 personnel were indeed receiving threats while undertaking the road project.

GEM2 security chief Noel Ruiz, however, denied receiving extortion demands even before the firm started the road project in February.

Ruiz though admitted last Tuesday’s incident was the third involving GEM projects. He said this was the first involving a road project in Central Mindanao.

Ruiz said past incidents included the kidnapping of an employee of a GEM project contractor in Sulu while another GEM team was harassed by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in a road project in Basilan.

The incident occurred after the Eastern Mindanao Command warned of a new group of rogue MILF guerrillas planning to sabotage the Palarong Pambansa in Koronadal City, South Cotabato.

The military claimed 43 new graduates of an explosives training school of the MILF have been deployed to attack the Palaro as their "testing ground."

Tuesday’s grenade attack was the third in a week in Central Mindanao.

A suspected bomber identified as Sukarno Esmael was killed after the explosive device he was allegedly carrying blew off prematurely. Two were also wounded in the explosion.

Last Sunday, a powerful explosion rocked a remote village in Midsayap, North Cotabato which left a villager critically wounded.

The Midsayap police are now in custody of two suspects tagged behind the attack. – With Edith Regalado, AP, AFP