Military joins probe on NCotabato campus attack

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Intelligence units of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command are now helping the North Cotabato police investigate Sunday’s grenade and arson attacks in a public school in Arakan town.

The blast injured 25 people, among them firemen and policemen who were trying to put out the fire that hit a dormitory of the Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology (CFCST) in Barangay Doroloman, some 30 minutes before a powerful explosion ripped through the campus.

Captain Alberto Caber, spokesman of the Davao City-based Eastmincom, said in an emailed statement that their commander, Lt. Gen. Rainier Cruz III, has directed Army units in North Cotabato to gather information that could help the provincial police determine the identities of the culprits.

Superintendent Rolly Aranza, chief of the Arakan municipal police, said probers recovered from around the burnt dormitory empty plastic containers laced with petroleum residue.

Aranza said they are certain the suspects behind the grenade attack are responsible for the burning of the building too.

Caber said the chief of the Eastmincom has also ordered all of its units in the province to enlist the help of community leaders in identifying who could have perpetrated the arson and grenade attacks at the campus.

Caber emphasized, however, that they can only help in the gathering of vital information regarding the two incidents in support of the efforts of the police to prosecute those behind them.

He said the Eastmincom commander is hoping for the immediate resolution of the seemingly related arson and bombing cases by the local police.