As the number of people who died from the brutal car bombing in Cotabato City rose from six to nine and the wounded placed at 40, the task of really establishing the motive and identifying the suspect is mired in confusion as almost everybody comes up with his own conclusion even before the start of a deep and comprehensive investigation.

 

In the many years I spent as a newsman and later as a local government executive confronted with crises similar to the Cotabato City bombing, I understand that officials are under extreme pressure to immediately provide answers to the people’s questions like “Who did it?” and “Why?”

 

But when officials try to outdo each other by providing people with guesses and theories even before the actual and formal investigation could start, they only do more harm than good.

 

This is what is happening in the handling of the investigation of the Cotabato City bombing now.

 

Yesterday, Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. volunteered the haphazard guess that “politicians propped up by drug traffickers could be behind the powerful car bomb explosion that shook the city’s commercial district on Monday.”

 

A Philippine Daily Inquirer report filed from Cotabato City quoted Mayor Guiani as saying “We will know soon who’s behind the bombing.”

 

The mayor’s statement issued Tuesay afternoon came following the reported the arrest of three persons who were seen on a closed-circuit TV monitor during the attack.

 

The PDI report said the mayor declined to name the suspects, but said they were undergoing interrogation at the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

 

Even President Benigno S. Aquino III is falling into the same trap of making conclusions, perhaps based on inputs of the intelligence community.

 

The PDI reported that at the “Subic Freeport in Olongapo City, President Aquino summoned members of the Cabinet security cluster to an emergency meeting in Malacañang for a “security assessment on the bombing,” even as he ruled out that it was related to the global alert against attacks by terrorists linked to al-Qaida.”

 

“The President said the government had its own set of “suspects,” but he did not identify them,” the PDI report added.

 

“At this point in time, the suspects have been the objects of our concern for a very long time, and we’ve been pursuing the same suspects,” he told journalists during his visit to the port to welcome the arrival of the Philippines’ second cutter, the BRP Ramon Alcaraz. “We are not yet sure that they are the parties responsible for this (bombing).”

 

Meanwhile, in Cotabato City, Mayor Guiani is singing a different song.

 

Here is the PDI report on the statement of Mayor Guiani:

 

“Guiani said the perpetrators could be some of his “critics and politicians funded by the illegal drugs trade.” He said a powerful group might have been hurt by the city’s peace and order campaign which, he added, had managed to contain cases of kidnapping and other crimes related to illegal drugs since 2010.

 

“The bombers, Guiani said, were after him or his sister, City Administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, who was on board a Chevrolet bulletproof van about 10 meters from the blast site. “She is fortunate that there were two vehicles ahead [of her van],” he said.

 

“Guiani said he and his sister had been receiving death threats following his election in 2010.

 

“We will know soon who’s behind this bombing,” Guiani said as he waved three brown envelopes marked “Top Secret.” “These will unmask the mastermind and other personalities behind the breakdown of law and order in the city.”

 

“Mayor Guiani said the bomb used during Monday’s attack was similar to the “enflaming” explosive that ruined commercial establishments at Awang Airport in Maguindanao in a terrorist attack in 2003. It was made from a 105 mortar shell wired and wrapped in phosphorus and a combustible substance, such as a gasoline-soaked jute sack, he said.

 

“This means that the maker or makers of both bombs are experts, and they both belong to the same category of high-profile terrorism,” he said.

 

“Guiani said police investigators were looking into the accounts of two witnesses and electronically retrieving phone conversations and text messages.

 

“In Manila, Senior Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, Philippine National Police spokesman, also said the bomb rigged to a vehicle parked along Sinsuat Avenue might have been intended for City Administrator Sayadi.

 

“We’re looking at the possibility that this could be an emerging modus [of a criminal syndicate]. They could have placed the bomb instead of [using firearms] to ambush the target,” Sindac said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.

 

“Instead of gun-for-hire, this might be bomb-for-hire,” he said.

 

“He noted reports that Sayadi had escaped two previous attempts on her life.

 

“Since (the assassins) had failed to kill her using guns, they might have resorted to using explosives this time (since) the subject or target was using a bulletproof vehicle,” Sindac said.

 

“Asked if the explosion was related to the global terror alert that the US government had issued a few days ago, the official said the police “don’t see any immediate or direct connection.”

 

“We are also not discounting the fact that this is connected to the Cagayan de Oro incident,” he said.”

 

While it is understandable that the City Mayor has to face his constituents and brief them on the update in the investigation, it would have been more prudent on the part of Mayor Guiani to refrain from issuing piecemeal information based on guesswork.

 

Leading the investigators towards the alley where they expect to uncover the involvement of Mayor Guiani’s political enemies in the bombing, effectively closes the doors to the probe of other motives.

 

Also by taking the role of a bomb expert describing the type of bomb, its make and its damaging effect, Mayor Guiani unwittingly tarnishes the credibility of the investigation.

 

It is not late yet to correct the situation.

 

The national government should handle the probe of the Cotabato City car bombing since the interpretation of the event has already been taken up at the national security level.

 

An inter-agency body under the direct supervision of the head of a competent agency should be established to coordinate all efforts and act as the only source of official information based on the progress of its investigation.

 

In the United States of America, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would have taken over the investigation from the local police.

 

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) which lately has improved its reputation should be asked to handle the Cotabato City bombing as the lead agency with all the other investigating groups working with it.

 

This has to be done because the car bombing incident, the first in Cotabato City and the second in Central Mindanao, has a deeper implication on the security situation in the area.

 

Right now, people’s minds are preoccupied with the gory images of car bombings and terrorism in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

 

Unless a credible investigation is conducted which would lead to an unimpeachable conclusion on the motive and identification of the suspects, there will always be fear in the hearts of people, not only of Cotabato City but the surrounding areas as well.

 

The circus that is starting to unfold where everybody dips his finger into the investigation and issues conclusions based on guesswork has to stop.

 

Otherwise, the cry of the families of the victims and the people for answers to their questions and justice will end up in the same place like the investigation of other bombing incidents in the past – in limbo.

 

Meanwhile, the grief-stricken city is still in a state of shock as the number of fatalities rose from six to nine.

 

The PDI report quoted Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, city police chief, as saying that two of the latest fatalities as Nasruddin Guialel and Salipudin Sindatok, who died at about 10 p.m. on Monday at Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC). At least 40 other persons were brought to the nearby Notre Dame Hospital and CRMC.

 

Jeanice Menak, 5, expired at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night. Her parents are on vacation from London.

 

Also killed were Samsuddin Ahari and Usop Jaji, both security escorts of Sayadi; Sangcala Satol, 7-year-old Jebbin Menak and 9-year-old Harris Unto, all passersby; and SPO3 Mama Manambuay.

 

Manambuay, who died in the hospital, was with Chief Insp. Abubakar Mangelen, both of the Maguindanao police intelligence unit, on board a white Mitsubishi Strada van, when the blast occurred at 4:25 p.m. Mangelen is out of danger, his relatives said.

 

Photo credit: Jef Maitem 

 

 

Manny Piñol is former governor of North Cotabato. This article first apperared on his website.