Authorities still probing on deadly Cotabato City IED attack

COTABATO CITY ---- One of the two fatalities in the bombing here Monday was an employee of a commission that authored the law meant to end decades of secessionist strife in the country’s restive south.The bombing near the entrance to the Southseas Mall along Don Rufino Alonzo Avenue here left 37 others wounded, five of them minors.Jonathan Tasic Torribiano, who was driver of Melanio Ulama of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), and the other fatality, Mariam Ulama Cali, died from shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies.Ulama is a timuay (chieftain) in central Mindanao’s indigenous non-Moro Teduray group, which is involved in the now 22-year peace process between the government and the MILF.In an informal press briefing immediately after Friday’s bombing, Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi urged authorities to identify the culprits and prosecute them to the fullest extent of law.Guiani-Sayadi, known for her iron-fisted stance in addressing domestic peace and order issues, described as an act of terror and an affront to humanity the bomb attack, the city’s worst since she became mayor in 2016.Commissioners in the MILF-led BTC were saddened by the demise of Torribiano, who was for them a friendly and courteous employee of the commission.The BTC, comprised of representatives from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and from the government, crafted the Republic Act 11054, also known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).The measure was premised on two compacts between Malacañang and the MILF --- the 2013 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and, subsequently, the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.The office of the BTC is less than 200 meters away from the premises of the Southseas Mall, where the improvised explosive device packed with nails went off.Superintendent Rolly Octavio, director of the Cotabato City police, said Tuesday investigators are still trying to determine who were responsible for the IED attack.The Army-led anti-terror Joint Task Force Kutawato and intelligence units of the 6thInfantry Division are now helping investigate on the incident, according to Octavio.The IED was reportedly left by a still unidentified person underneath one of the tables near the entrance of the Southseas Mall where ambulant vendors displayed fireworks.Responding Army and police bomb experts promptly deactivated a second IED, placed in a container filled with ball bearings and fragments of cast iron with jagged edges, found on the second floor of the mall.The now outgoing Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, whose term will end on June 30, 2019, said Tuesday he has requested Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-ARMM to help investigate on the incident.The 32-hectare capitol of ARMM is located in Cotabato City, less than two kilometers northeast of the People’s Palace where Guiani-Sayadi holds office.Cotabato City, which is inside Maguindanao province, is under the jurisdiction of the Region 12 police.Maguindanao is a component-province of ARMM. The bombing was an act of terror, nothing more nothing less. We in the regional government wish that the wheel of justice roll over its perpetrators sooner than expected, said Hataman, chairman of the ARMM regional peace and order council.Hataman also allayed fears that the bombing could affect the on-going peace overture between the government and the MILF. Let us refrain from speculating on the incident and avoid doing reckless commentaries and expression of unbelievable opinions about it on Facebook. Let us give authorities enough time to finish their investigation on the incident, Hataman said.The BOL, if ratified via the January 21 plebiscite in its proposed core territory, shall pave the way for ARMM’s replacement with an MILF-led Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.The Commission on Elections will administer the plebiscite in all of ARMM’s five provinces -- Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi -- and in parts of Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato and in the cities Cotabato and Isabela in Basilan.In a statement released Friday night, Hadji Murad Ebrahim, figurehead of the MILF, branded atrocious and inhuman the bombing, which triggered panic among residents of Cotabato City. We call on concerned authorities to sincerely and thoroughly investigate on this evil act, Murad said.Major Gen. Cirilito Sobejana of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division said Tuesday the visibility of soldiers in roadside checkpoints in Maguindanao’s adjoining Sultan Kudarat and Datu Odin Sinsuat towns, the northern and southern gateways to Cotabato City, respectively, have been intensified as part of the security measures to stave off a repeat of Monday’s IED incident. We have tapped the help of the peace and order councils in Maguindanao to help us in our security activities, Sobejana said.