'Indignation holiday' held in Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – Business ground to a halt as local traders closed shop to join townsfolk during an “indignation holiday” here yesterday to dramatize their sentiments over Sunday’s bomb attack that left six people dead and scores wounded.

Hundreds of people wearing red shirts showed up in the streets to dramatize their sympathy for the six people killed in the bombing, which they described as the worst in recent years.

Oscar Tan Abing, a senior official of Cotabato City’s association of grocery store owners, said they decided to close shop for a day to show their sympathy to the victims.

Medical professionals led by Dr. Ramon Rabago, of the local chapter of the Philippine Medical Association, said they observed a “sympathy day off,” but stressed emergency rooms and hospitals remained open.

“It’s the duty of doctors working in ERs to attend to emergencies so they must be there while we, operating private clinics, are mourning the plight of the victims in last Sunday’s bombing,” Rabago said.

Muslim religious leaders also showed their support during their khutab (sermon) in mosques during their traditional Friday prayers.

“Whoever perpetrated that bombing must have been inspired by Satan,” said Ustadz Faried Solaiman Adas.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan said the 700 members of the ARMM’s Madaris Education Bureau led prayers for the victims of the attack.

“We sympathize with the victims of that incident as well as those in the subsequent bombings in downtown Jolo (capital of Sulu) and in Iligan City,” Ampatuan said.

Ampatuan said he has ordered ARMM police director Chief Superintendent Bensali Jabarani to intensify police operations in securing vital state infrastructure and transport terminals.

Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema said initial investigation showed the bombers used an 81mm mortar rigged with a blasting mechanism attached to a cell phone.

“(The suspect) seemed to have detonated the IED (improvised explosive device) from a safe distance,” Sema said.

He said police and military experts found fragments of an 81mm mortar projectile from the blast scene.

Video footage obtained by the police showed a man leaving a plastic container underneath a show window of an eatery in front of the cathedral, then quickly walked away while holding his cell phone, as if sending a text message.

The bomb went off after the suspect disappeared from view.

A platoon of Army troops surrounded the cathedral here during a special noontime Mass, even as traditional Friday prayers were being held in nearby mosques.

“The Mass was meant to show our concern for the safety of the people in Cotabato City and to sympathize with the victims of the July 5 bombing near the cathedral,” said Cotabato’s archbishop Msgr. Jose Colin Bagaforo.