AFP admits failure of intelligence in MSU blast  

MANILA, Philippines —  A “failure of intelligence due to failure of capabilities” on the part of the military may be partly to blame in the Mindanao State University (MSU) bombing that killed four and wounded some 50 others on Sunday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has admitted.

However, the military explains that “failure of intelligence” may be interpreted in so many ways, but such failure is more likely due to lack of capability to cover everything and not because of negligence.

“Looking into it, when something happens, usually you can’t cover it all. So, in a way, yes there is a failure but whether there is responsibility, or someone could have accountability, that is what we are investigating,” AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar told GMA’s Unang Hirit yesterday.

Clarifying the statement, he later told reporters in a separate interview that it is not really accurate to use the term failure of intelligence since the issue is about the limited capability to cover or catch everything considering the large area and other aspects on gathering and utilizing intelligence information.

Aguilar said there are a lot of variables that one cannot really cover everything, which is why the question to be answered is whether or not the intelligence unit was remiss or what intelligence information was received and if it was acted on.

Aguilar added that AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. himself has said that there was no failure of intelligence though a probe is being conducted on whether there was concrete information received on the ground, and what was done.

He noted that because of the MSU bombing, it is clear that there is a need to enhance intelligence capability because “we don’t have enough capability to know everything that’s going around us, but this can be supported by the cooperation of the people especially because supposedly security is everyone’s concern.”

Intensified manhunt

State security forces have intensified manhunt operations against two suspected members of the Dawlah Islamiya-Maute terrorist group tagged in the bomb attack at MSU.

Philippine National Police public information officer Col. Jean Fajardo said police units are working with the AFP to apprehend Kadapi Mimbesa alias Engineer and Arsani Membisa, also known through his aliases Khatab, Hatab and Lapitos.

“We are closely coordinating with the AFP for the immediate arrest of these two identified personalities,” she said over Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.

Police are preparing criminal complaints against the suspects, who were identified through the statements of witnesses and CCTV footage. Mimbesa and Membisa were spotted entering the campus gym where a mass was being held, and left shortly after the improvised explosive device went off.

Days after the bombing, the MSU has decided to resume face-to-face classes on Dec. 11 with students being welcomed on campus amid tight security measures and heightened police and military presence. –  Neil Jayson Servallos, John Unson, Emmanuel Tupas