Davao panel set to issue findings on twin blasts

DAVAO CITY — The presidential commission tasked to investigate the military’s alleged role in the twin bombings that rocked this city last year is expected to release its findings soon after almost five months of inquiry.

Assistant city prosecutor Danilo Belo, a member of the panel’s secretariat, said the Maniwang commission, so-called because it is headed by Fr. Pedro Maniwang, a local parish priest, is now finalizing its report after collating all testimonies and evidence this week.

President Arroyo created the commission to look into allegations by junior military officers behind the failed mutiny in Makati City on July 27 last year, that former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus, former chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), had a hand in the bombings.

The explosions struck a crowded waiting shed outside the Davao International Airport and a row of stalls at the gate of the Sasa wharf’s passenger terminal on March 4 and April 2 last year, respectively. Thirty-nine people were killed and over 200 others were wounded.

The commission was supposed to release its findings within 30 days after its creation on Sept. 30 last year, but it sought an extension, citing the need to hold hearings here and in Manila to gather more testimonies.

Local authorities earlier blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the blasts, leading to the filing of multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against 100 of its leaders.

But the government is no longer keen on pursuing the cases as a concession to the MILF for the resumption of formal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April.

Last year, warrants of arrest for 10 MILF leaders charged for the twin bombings were lifted.