Extortion, labor woes not behind attack – GenSan firm

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Executives of a tuna canning plant here denied police claims that the bomb attack at their compound last Wednesday could be related to a labor conflict or the handiwork of an extortion group.

“The company has no labor problem. The company maintains a proactive and responsive approach (toward its) employees. It is the same with any subsidiaries of the RD Group of Companies,” Annie Cabreros, plant manager of the Philbest Canning Corp., said during a press briefing yesterday.

Philbest reportedly employs more than 6,000 workers from various parts of the Socsksargen (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) area.

Cabreros also clarified that there were no extortion demands or threats of any kind against their company or other businesses owned by the Rivera family across Mindanao.

“We have received no demands from any extortion groups operating in Central Mindanao. Extortion is totally out of the picture,” she said.

Cabreros described the police theories of a labor problem and extortion as “unfounded” and “totally remote, barren of any factual and logical basis.”

Rodrigo Rivera, chairman of the RD Group of Companies and chief executive officer of the Philbest Canning Corp., and other company executives viewed the bomb attack as “a plain and simple random, barbaric terrorist attack consummately aimed at spreading fear to the general public in general.”

Last Wednesday, at around 6:40 p.m., an improvised explosive went off in front of the Philbest tuna canning plant in Barangay Tambler, killing four people, including an 11-year-old boy, and wounding 29 others.

Most of the victims are employees of the canning plant, according to reports.

Investigation showed that the explosive was planted beside a shaded electric post, a few meters away from the plant’s gate where at least 1,000 workers were waiting to enter the compound.

Superintendent Robert Po, city police chief, was quoted as saying by local reporters that the explosion could possibly be linked to a labor dispute or extortion.

City Mayor Pedro Acharon and Central Mindanao police director Chief Superintendent Felizardo Serapio said it’s the right of the company to reject the police theories on the possible motive behind the bomb attack.

“We have nothing to do about it kung yan ang sinasabi nila (if that is what they are saying). We have to respect it. Basta ako I will still order the police authorities to continue their investigation into the bomb attack,” Acharon told The STAR.

Acharon said the people behind the attack must be known and put in jail. “What they did is inhuman and barbaric that deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms,” he said.

Serapio urged the public to be always vigilant and report immediately to the nearest police stations any suspicious-looking persons in their communities.

“The business of preventing terrorists from committing terror acts is not solely the business of the police authorities but also the business of the public. Let us bind our arms together in fighting them,” Serapio said.