Blast hits N. Cotabato banana farm

COTABATO CITY ,Philippines  – Suspected Moro rebels have blasted a powerful improvised explosive in a banana plantation in Tulunan, North Cotabato in what could be an attempt to force the company to shell out “protection money,” authorities said yesterday.

No one was reported killed or wounded in the bombing of a secluded portion of the vast Cavendish banana farm of the RNF Industry in Barangay Basak, Tulunan town, but the explosion triggered panic among the workers.

Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, North Cotabato police director, said investigators are now trying to determine the group behind the attack.

Investigators are also not discounting the possibility that the bombing was meant to intimidate about 60 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who surrendered and pledged allegiance to the Philippine flag last week and now work as security guards or workers at the banana plantation.

Col. Leopoldo Galon, spokesman of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the explosive was fashioned from live mortar rounds rigged with a battery-operated blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone.

The MILF rebels who surrendered last week got assurance of rehabilitation support from the military and Tulunan Mayor Lanie Candolada.

A group of MILF rebels attacked the same banana plantation last Nov. 27 and set a backhoe on fire.