NCotabato town mayor survives bomb attack; 3 cops hurt

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – Three policemen were badly injured on Thursday when communist rebels set off a powerful roadside bomb targeting the service vehicle of a mayor in a hinterland town in the province.

President Roxas town Mayor Jaime Mahingpit sustained minor wounds from the explosion.

The mayor’s injured police escorts, initially identified only as SPO4 Castillo, PO3 Illagas, and PO2 Avena were rushed to a hospital by responding barangay officials and combatants of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion.

The mayor was on his way to an interior barangay to inspect infrastructure projects when the improvised explosive, planted along a farm-to-market road, went off.

Lt. Col. Nilo Vinluan, commanding officer of the 57th Philippine Army's Infantry Battalion, said the improvised roadside bomb was apparently set off from a distance using a mobile phone.

“The mayor was just slightly wounded. He is in absolutely safe condition,” Vinluan said.

Vinluan said the bombing of the mayor’s vehicle must have been prompted by his tough stance against the excessive mulcting of “protection money” from his constituent-peasants in his municipality.

Vinluan said that the NPA had demanded P1 million from the local government of President Roxas in exchange for the safety of a road project in the barangay where the mayor’s car was bombed.