The usual bombing suspects

Eidul Fitr al Mubarak!

This is the “Merry Christmas” greeting of Muslims around the world as they celebrate the end of Ramadan. It is really a feast to mark the month-long fasting Muslims did to observe this holy Islamic event.

By virtue of Republic Act No. 9177 signed on November 13, 2002, it has become part of our country’s annual regular national holidays. This is in recognition of our Muslim brothers who comprise a significant portion of the Philippine population but are mostly based in Mindanao.

The Eidul Fitr is a movable date because based on the sighting of the new moon which appeared yesterday. Upon the advice of Muslim scholars, President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III issued Proclamation 629 that set today the official non-working holiday all over the country. 

But for the five component provinces and two cities of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Gov. Mujiv Hataman declared both August 8 and 9 as non-working holidays. These are in the cities of Isabela and Marawi in Basilan and Lanao del Sur, respectively, as well in the provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

There are at least one million plus Filipino Muslims in the ARMM alone based on the general listing of voters in this region last year.

Like its Christian counterpart of Christmas, today is supposed to be the Islamic celebration of life. Sadly, however, a series of explosions rocked southern Philippines the past few days as our Muslim brothers in Mindanao are on the last stretch of Ramadan, or Hariraya as it is also popularly called.

Based on what his Cabinet cluster on national security had briefed him the past two days, President Aquino pointed to the usual bombing suspects as the possible culprits in the series of improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Mindanao – the Muslim bandit groups operating in southern Philippines.

The President noted the latest series of explosions in parts of Mindanao is maybe part of attempts to distract the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from pursuing the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). This is the splinter group from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that is negotiating with the government on the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement. The President added the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom bandits among the “threat groups” that have diversified their criminal activities into “bomb-for-hire” terrorists.

In the meantime, the government peace panel chaired by Miriam Coronel-Ferrer is preparing to resume peace negotiations with the MILF for the next annexes of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement. In our recent talks with Ferrer, the next round of negotiations will take place soon after Ramadan. The peace talks were suspended during this period.

The series of bomb attacks seem to indicate attempts to stall the resumption of peace talks.

The first bombing incident was last July 26. Eight people were killed and 48 others wounded when the blast occurred in a crowded bistro at Limketkai complex in Cagayan de Oro City. No one nor any particular group has claimed responsibility for this treacherous attack on unsuspecting Thank-God-it’s-Friday (TGIF) revelers who died not knowing what hit them.

In fact, police and government authorities have yet to pin down specific culprits behind it when the Senate committee on public order chaired by neophyte Sen. Grace Poe conducted an inquiry into the incident. The Senate inquiry — the first public hearing of the newly convened 16th Congress — was sought in a Resolution filed by Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III who denounced the deadly bombing attack in his home district.

Then last Monday, August 5, an incendiary IED planted in a multi-cab exploded in the middle of the busy part of Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato City. Nine people were killed – two of them children – while another 40 were injured in the blast that burned down several vehicles and houses.

While government authorities were still sifting through the debris left by the destructive and most deadly bombing attack so far, three more IED blasts took place last Wednesday one after the other. The first IED blast took place at the Crossing Nabundas, in Shariff Saydona Mustapha in Maguindanao that wounded seven soldiers.

Later, another IED blast rocked Midsayap in North Cotabato and before the day ended, Datu Piang also in Maguindanao was hit by another blast. Fortunately, no one was hurt in both IED attacks.

And these IED attacks took place as the Senate public hearing was trying to grill government authorities over the progress — or lack of it – to pin down the culprits of the Cagayan de Oro bomb attack. Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas II and Philippine National Police (PNP) director-general Alan Purisima were naturally hesitant to bare details of their ongoing investigation into the incident before an open session with senators.

Roxas and Purisima projected civility with each other during the entire Senate hearing. But only a few days before the Senate hearing, the two officials were at each other’s necks. The DILG Secretary publicly chastised the PNP chief for speedily clearing Cagayan de Oro police probers for allowing the immediate cleanup the crime scene that enabled the mall restaurant operations to go back to normal.

Appearing together at the Senate hearing last Wednesday, Roxas conceded the PNP chief was correct after all to absolve his police probers. Roxas grudgingly concurred with Purisima’s rationale for letting off the hook the police probers on this bombing incident. In defending his men, Purisima cited the bomb culprits – who remain unknown – should not be given the luxury to enjoy the sight of disrupted normal business operations. That’s the motive of every terrorist – to terrorize people into inaction.

As of this writing, President Aquino was meeting anew with his Cabinet national security cluster at Malacañang to be apprised of developments – or lack thereof again – of their investigation into the spate of terrorism in southern Philippines.

And since these latest IED blasts were supposedly perpetrated by the usual bombing suspects, they may likely be written off in the growing list of unsolved bombing attacks in Mindanao. Assallamu alaikum to our brother Muslims.