Police deny Cotabato City bombing suspects arrested

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  --- The police on Wednesday refuted assertions by the city mayor three suspects in Monday’s deadly roadside bombing are now in custody, undergoing interrogation.

“Let us not be insistent about that report,” Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, told Catholic station dxMS here  when asked to confirm the reported arrest of the three suspects in the attack.

Balquin said they are still investigating on the incident and have not arrested any suspect yet until press time Wednesday.

“I can assure the public and the media that we shall be very transparent in our effort to resolve this case. We will keep you abreast on all developments regarding our investigation,” Balquin said.

Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. was reported by radio stations here as having announced Tuesday afternoon that three suspected bombers had been arrested and were  undergoing interrogation.

Guiani said he could have been “misquoted” by journalists.

Guiani, in a separate interview with dxMS, said all he had announced was that they now have suspects in the bombing and that there are informants helping identify and locate them.

Guiani reiterated that the bombers had  targeted either her or her sister, Cotabato City Administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi.

Guiani has offered a reward money in exchange for any information that would lead to the arrest of the bombers.

Bomb experts said the car bomb, a multi-cab with license plates WFG 183, was packed with a home-made explosive made up of ammonium nitrate mixed with incendiary chemicals.

The car bomb, parked along a busy stretch of the Sinsuat Avenue here, was set off just as a convoy carrying the mayor’s younger sister, the city administrator, was passing by.