Reyes to IPFSA: Come out, we talk

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City – Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes told the obscure "Indigenous People’s Federalist State Army" (IPFSA) yesterday to properly air their grievances instead of planting bombs in public places and scaring innocent people.

Reyes said that while no one has been harmed nor any property destroyed by the eight bombs the IPFSA planted in various places in Metro Manila last week, the incidents have damaged the country nonetheless.

"We are asking these people who are threatening to stage these hoax bombing activities to desist because it is not doing the country any good," Reyes told The STAR.

"We are asking them to come out in the open. If they have grievances, then they should go to the proper channels so that the government can address these concerns accordingly," he added.

"They should identify themselves, identify their causes so these could be addressed by the government," he said.

The group started planting improvised bombs in busy places in Metro Manila last Monday but, police said, the packages were not meant to explode but only to scare people since they lacked triggers.

The packages included manifestos from the group demanding that federal territories be established for indigenous peoples, Muslims and Christians.

But mainstream federalists in Mindanao denounced the IPFSA and stressed that federalism can be realized through constitutional processes.

"We have nothing to do with IPFSA and all its activities. We are strongly pushing for federalism through a constitutional process. No need for an army," known federalist Rey Magno Teves told The STAR.

Teves is the national convenor of the Movement for a Federal Philippines (MFP) and is one of the leaders of the Lihuk Federal Mindanao, which includes prominent national figures.

Among the prominent movers of Lihuk Federal are Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Notre Dame University president Rev. Eliseo Mercado Jr. OMI, Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, Muslim scholar Moner Bajunaid and other political and civic leaders in Mindanao.

Teves said Lihuk Federal should not be associated with IPFSA because Lihuk comes out in the open and conducts consultations and dialogues which are even supported by prominent foreign groups, like the Konrad Adenauer Foundation of Germany.

"(On the other hand,) IPFSA does not have a face. Nobody has come out in the open, in full view, to be identified as being with IPFSA. So we could not have any link whatsoever with IPFSA," Teves said.

"We have been clear about our objectives and we are out in the open espousing federalism. We are not hiding behind an army, like IPFSA," he added.

Hanky-panky eyed in missing explosives

Meanwhile, police intelligence officials belied a locally published report by a Washington Post reporter that some four tons of high-grade explosives are missing from the inventories of local manufacturers.

A Camp Crame intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they discovered that the missing explosives were actually sold by unidentified police officials to illegal miners, illegal fishermen and construction companies.

"The explosives are intact and stored in a warehouse in Cebu," the source said.

The report of the allegedly missing explosives emerged after police arrested suspected Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who was caught with a ton of explosives which he was supposed to ship to other Southeast Asian nations for bombing attacks.

"Wala naman talagang nawawala. Mukhang nagkaroon lang ng diversion pagdating sa deliveries. (Nothing is really missing. It looks like there was just a diversion during the deliveries)," the source added.

He said this was indicated by the trail of documents processed by the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office.

"Upon intensive verification, it was found that the sales were mostly on paper but actual deliveries went straight to Cebu," he said.

He admitted that there were irregularities since the explosives are known to be in Cebu while police documents showed that they were supposed to have been sold to several legitimate end-users, mostly mining companies.

"The mere fact that these devices were officially reported to have been sold to different end-users, its presence in Cebu is highly irregular if not illegal," he said.

He suggested that influential people and ranking police generals were making money out of the transaction but he refused to identify the police officials.

"May mga taong nakikinabang sa transaksiyon na iyan (There are people who are benefiting out of that transaction)," he said.

The source said stricter laws on the use of explosives has forced small-scale and illegal miners to purchase their supplies of explosives from the black market.

This, he added, is evident in the mining operations on Mt. Diwalwal in Moncayo, Compostela Valley where illegal miners continue to acquire explosives for blasting purposes despite legal restrictions.

"This also goes for fishermen engaged in illegal fishing in Southern Tagalog, Visayas and Mindanao who bought their supplies of dynamites from corrupt traders," the source added. - Paolo Romero, Edith Regalado, Jaime Laude