We’re convenient scapegoats — MILF

The Moro Islamic Li-beration Front (MILF) scored yesterday what it described as the government’s latest attempt to make the group a convenient scapegoat for the bombings in Metro Manila last Dec. 30 that left 22 people dead and nearly a hundred wounded.

Al Haj Murad, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said they are shocked at how the Estrada administration is trying to cover up "an atro-city perpetuated by its own clandestine operatives."

"The MILF has again become the favorite scapegoat of the Philippine National Police (PNP)," said Murad, one of seven men charged for the bomb attacks in five sites.

Last Friday, the PNP filed criminal charges against Murad, MILF chairman Hashim Salamat, vice chairman for military affairs Ghadzali Jaafar, vice chairman for internal affairs Aleem Aziz Mimbantas, Safilla Unos, Mohammed Guindolongan and Ismael Abbas.

The only suspect under police custody is Abbas who was reportedly arrested in Pasig City on Jan. 4. He has been tagged as the MILF’s link to Metro Manila.

Murad insisted that the MILF had no hand in the bomb attacks.

"We have no reason to stage bombing campaigns in Metro Manila aimed at innocent civilians who already believe that the President is guilty of corruption," Murad said.

He said the government’s announcements was another thinly veiled attempt to project the MILF as nothing more than a terrorist group out to sow terror.

Murad noted that this always happens whenever atrocities are perpetrated by some sectors with vested interests.

"If the military and police can only blame us for masterminding the impeachment of the President, they would do so without hesitation," he said sarcastically.

The MILF leader said the bombs used, the military-like precision of the explosions and the easy access to the targets, pointed to a "government-supervised terrorism operation aimed at keeping a tight hold on political power."

Murad allged that the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) were the actual perpetrators of the bombings.

The PNP’s announcement on the involvement of the MILF came after 18 Muslim men were arrested after a dramatic raid by ISAFP agents on a house in a Muslim community in Barangay Culiat, Quezon City.

The military later released 14 men and Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes had to make a public apology for their detention. PNP chief Director General Panfilo Lacson, who is leading the investigation on the Rizal Day bombings, angrily scored the AFP for not consulting the police before the raid in Culiat.