Lone suspect in Rizal Day bombings ordered freed by court

The lone suspect in a series of bombings on Dec. 30 last year in Metro Manila has been ordered released by a Quezon City court, paving the way to the government’s reinvestigation of the incidents that killed 22 people and wounded nearly a hundred others.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ma. Theresa Yadao of Branch 81 also recalled the arrest warrant against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Hashim Salamat and four others in connection with the Rizal Day bombings.

Ordered released from the custody of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) was Ismael Abbas, a suspected member of the MILF.

The release order and recall of arrest warrant were anchored on the petition filed by Abbas’ legal counsel Carmina Abbas who adopted the motion of the justice department, through government prosecutors, asking for the withdrawal of charges to pave the way for a reinvestigation of the case.

The DOJ’s motion was filed before a Manila court where multiple murder and frustrated murder charges were being heard in connection with the bombings.

The blasts occurred almost simultaneously just past noon at an overhead railway station in Sta. Cruz, Manila, a bus in Cubao, the area fronting the US Embassy, a gasoline station in Makati, and at the international airport.

State prosecutors Romeo Danosos and Menrado Corpuz said the government’s petition was meant to prove that the Arroyo administration is sincere in its policy of earnestly pursuing a workable and acceptable peace negotiation with the MILF.

The MILF was being blamed for the series of blasts in Manila, Pasay City, Quezon City and Makati City that killed 22 persons and injured about a hundred others on Dec. 30.

Abbas was arrested by police on Jan. 2 in Barangay Pineda, Pasig City, and two days later, operatives swooped down on a Muslim neighborhood in Barangay Culiat, Quezon City, and booked 17 residents in the area. The 17 have since been released.

Then Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson had blamed the MILF for the bombings, vowing to "arrest those bastards."

Police authorities filed multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against Salamat and other MILF leaders and members.

The case in Quezon City was in relation to the bombings on Edsan passenger bus (TVY-145) where a passenger was killed and several others wounded.

Aside from Salamat, subject to the recalled warrant of arrest were Al Haj Murad, MILF chief of staff; Gadsali Jaafar, vice chairman for political affairs; Aleem Aziz Mimbantas, vice chairman for internal affairs; and members Saifulla Unos and Mohammed Guindolonga.

Other bombing incidents took place inside a coach of the Light Rail Transit at the Blumentritt terminal in Sta. Cruz; in Ferguson Park near the US Embassy along Roxas Boulevard, both in Manila; at the Centennial Terminal of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City; and a gas station in front of the Dusit Hotel in Makati City.
The bombings occurred a few days before the resumption of the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada, leading to speculations that they were meant either as a diversionary tactic, or a further means to tighten the noose on the previous administration. –Cecille Suerte Felipe