Probers face blank wall in Bukidnon bus bombing

NORTH COTABATO – Police and Army probers were still facing a blank wall on Tuesday afternoon’s bus bombing in Maramag, Bukidnon that left 11 passengers dead and 20 others injured.

Nine of the fatalities died on the spot according to senior members of the municipal peace and order council of Maramag, located at the border of the adjoining Bukidnon and North Cotabato provinces.

The provincial office of the state-run Philippine Information Agency in Bukidnon had quoted Lt. Col. Lynart Castisimo, commanding officer of the Army’s 23 Infantry Battalion, as having said that the improvised explosive device used in the attack was left underneath a vacant seat in the middle portion of the bus.

The ill-fated bus, bearing body number 2640, is owned by the Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. (RTMI), which serves the Tacurong City-North Cotabato-Bukidnon-Cagayan de Oro route.

It was the second unit of the same transportation firm that suspected extortionist had bombed four weeks ago.

Four passengers were slightly injured in the November 6 explosion that ripped through RTMI's bus while in Maramag en route to Cagayan de Oro City from Sultan Kudarat province in Central Mindanao.

Majority of the passengers injured in the bus bombing were students of the state-owned Central Mindanao University who were on their way home to nearby towns. The bomb exploded near the university, along the stretch of the Sayre Highway in Maramag.

Highly-placed sources from the military and the provincial police offices in Bukidnon and North Cotabato said there were indications that an extortion gang could be responsible for the bombing.

The RTMI management, however, denied having received any extortion demand from any group prior to the incident.

The transportation company promised to help pay for the medical bills of the injured passengers.

Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, on Wednesday ordered military units under his command to help secure RTMI buses if inside the 6th ID’s territory.

Capt. Joan Petinglay, spokesperson of 6th ID, said Pangilinan had also mobilized intelligence operatives to help gather information needed to hasten the investigation on the incident by the Bukidnon provincial police and the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, whose territory covers all towns in Bukidnon province.

“That’s the most the 6th ID can do to help in the investigation by the police because the incident happened outside of its area of responsibility,” Petinglay said.