North Cotabato town spared from another bomb attack

CAMP SIONGCO, Shariff Kabunsuan — Army explosive experts safely defused the other day a homemade bomb in Makilala, North Cotabato, preventing what could have been another deadly explosion in the area.

Catholic radio station dxND, operated by the Oblate congregation in Kidapawan City, reported that the bomb, fashioned from a 60-mm mortar projectile and rigged with a trip wire, was planted along a path leading to a spring in Barangay Kisante where villagers fetch water every day.

Inspector Ramil Hojilla, Makilala’s police chief, told dxND it was just fortunate that villagers on their way to the spring saw the explosive.

Hojilla said dozens of laborers from a nearby banana plantation bathe in the spring after a daylong work.

"It was good that the people who noticed the explosive immediately reported to us what they found," he said.

Hojilla said investigators have yet to determine the people behind the bombing attempt and their motive.

Hojilla said talk is rife that the supposed bombing was aimed at intimidating the owner of the banana plantation to shell out monthly "protection money."

The plantation, according to Hojilla, employs some 300 laborers and exports its produce.

Makilala, a scenic municipality at the foot of Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak, is just reeling from a deadly bombing at the town proper last Oct. 10, which left six people dead and caused serious injuries to 32 others.

The North Cotabato provincial peace and order council has blamed Moro secessionist rebels for the attack, which occurred on the eve of Makilala’s founding anniversary.