Cops release photos of suspects in Cotabato bombing

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Authorities released yesterday the photos of three suspects in a recent roadside bombing here that left eight people dead and injured more than 30 others.

Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin, however, refused to identify the suspects, pending validation of their identities and group affiliations.

Balquin said they are also still trying to determine the motive for the Aug.  5 incident.

The photos of the suspects were presented at a press briefing jointly presided over by Balquin; Col. Costudio Parcon Jr., commanding officer of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 1, and Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr., chairman of the city peace and order council.

Guiani appealed to the public to help the police and the military provide investigators with information that may hasten the resolution of the case.

The mayor had said he is convinced that the target of the roadside bombing was his sister, city administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi.

The car packed with explosives reportedly made up of ammonium nitrate mixed with petroleum went off just as a convoy led by Sayadi was passing.

Balquin and Guiani also appealed to the public to avoid speculations on the incident. 

Emergency security dialogue

Meanwhile, local officials in Central Mindanao agreed during an emergency security dialogue at the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID) headquarters in  Maguindanao on Tuesday to intensify their cooperation with the police and military to address security concerns amid recent bombings.

Governors Lala Talio-Mendoza of North Cotabato, Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao, Suharto Mangudadatu of Sultan Kudarat and Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Mayor Guiani attended the dialogue.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the 6th ID, said the meeting was jointly presided over by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., chairman of the national government’s Anti-Terror Council, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Lt. Gen. Rey Ardo, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, Director Felizardo Serapio of the Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes and Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista also attended the closed-door meeting.

“It was a brainstorming session where security measures and cooperation among local executives, the police and the military were discussed for the purpose of building a consensus on how to protect the local communities from threats of lawless groups and criminal gangs,” Hermoso said. Officials declined to elaborate on the details of the dialogue.

Mangudadatu, chairman of the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council (PPOC), told The STAR in a text message that the attendance of members of President Aquino’s Cabinet and senior police and military officials was a “morale booster” and showed the national government’s support for domestic peace and security efforts.

Mangudadatu and Mendoza, who chairs the North Cotabato PPOC, directed their respective constituent-mayors to provide their offices with security updates round-the-clock. 

Tuesday’s emergency security meeting at Camp Siongco followed the evacuation of some 400 families affected by the gunfight between the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and soldiers in Saidona town in Maguindanao.

Dozens of families in barangays Bangkat and Ganta, both in Saidona and in Reina Regente in nearby Datu Piang town, also fled their homes for fear of a spillover of hostilities.