It was a ‘toe in the mouth’ for AFP intel

When we wrote that article on the US global threat last Tuesday, we quoted Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan Jr. who assured the Filipino people saying, “Locally, we have not monitored threats, but definitely we will be on our toes to prevent any acts of terror, and to make sure that our citizenry are safe.”  Well last Monday the peace in Cotabato City was shattered by a car bomb exploded in downtown Cotabato City and killed 8 people and injuring scores of people. Clearly the AFP was not on their toes! Call it a “toe in the mouth” for Gen. Tutaan Jr.

This blast came just a week after the Cagayan de Oro… which the Philippine Senate is now investigating, chaired by neophyte Senator Grace Poe. Now, why is the Senate investigating the Cagayan de Oro bombing? Isn’t this the job of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)? What’s next for the Senate… will they also investigate the Cotabato blast… including the latest one that exploded yesterday which fortunately didn’t kill anyone? Perhaps Sen. Grace Poe ought to know that the job of Senators is to legislate laws!

Yet on the very topic that the Senate Blue Ribbon committee is supposed to investigate… that so-called P10-billion pork barrel scam that was allegedly perpetrated by Janet Lim Napoles of JLN Enterprises, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III decided not to proceed with their investigation on this scam until the NBI or the DoJ finishes their investigation on the matter. This brings us to ask, why has the NBI finished its investigation on the Cagayan de Oro bombing?

Meanwhile, back in Cotabato City, reports coming from the Office of Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. of Cotabato City reveals that he suspects that the bomb was aimed to kill his sister, Atty. Cynthia Guiani Sayadi who just passed by on board her bullet proof vehicle when the bomb exploded. Her police escorts on board a separate vehicle were among those who were killed.

I hope AFP spokesman Gen. Tutaan Jr. realizes that among the injured in that blast is Chief Inspector Abubakar Mangelen who is the chief intelligence officer of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). If he was on his toes then this bombing could have been avoided… more so that Atty. Sayadi said that she has been getting death threats.

The Cotabato blast also exposes the reality in Mindanao that even a City Administrator can get a police escort. This raises the question whether the police provided her with the police escort because of the threats to her life or this was provided by her brother the Mayor?

I would like to believe that the days of “wang-wang” was already over in this era of Daang Matuwid. Atty. Sayadi survived the bombing as she was on board a bulletproof Chevrolet. So the final question is…was this a terror bombing or an attempted assassination?

Whatever it is, there was another bombing in Cotabato reported yesterday, but thankfully there were no casualties. But something is brewing in Mindanao that our security services are apparently not aware of, and it is time that they tell the Filipino people what’s going on before Mindanao goes into flames and all this would make the international news headline. Then it’s goodbye to our tourism plans.

*      *      *

Didn’t we tell you that the calls for the abolition of the pork barrel, a.k.a.  the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) has snowballed? Civil Society and now the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) have called for its abolition and no less than the feisty Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is leading the way to a better Philippines when she sponsored a bill to abolish the pork barrel. Yes, Virginia, now it can be told that one of the most corrupt practices of our government is the misuse of the pork barrel which by the way was returned to the political elite during the days when President Cory Aquino took power from the Marcos dictatorship.

While her solution may not be an outright, total or immediate abolition of the pork barrel, she is proposing to have the PDAF cut in half for the year 2015 and in the year 2016, it would be totally abolished. At least it is a start so that by the elections of 2016, those belonging to the political elite whose main reason why they ran for public office is to get their dirty fingers in all that pork would now have to think twice or thrice before running for those elective positions.

But will Maid Miriam get the support of her peers? I seriously doubt it. For many of the political elite, especially those belonging to political dynasties, removing the pork barrel would remove the very motive why they are seeking elective positions in the Legislative Branch. So I predict Sen. Miriam Defensor proposal would be rejected by the political elite. But in my book, it is enough that she tried to pass this law. When it is rejected, we go to plan B.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]