NORTH Cotabato officials have slammed Malaca?ang for what they described as "insensitivity" to the plight of the Mindanaoans as evidenced by the recent visit of the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the Philippines.

Vice Gov. Emmanuel Piñol criticized Malacañang for saying that the spate of bombings in Mindanao is nothing to be worried about by the United States.

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National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales was quoted by Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying: "He (referring to CIA director Leon Panetta) was given an overview and we assured him that this (referring to Mindanao bombings) is nothing," adding that the recent explosions that hit various areas on the island "are routine in Mindanao."

Visibly irked by such report, Piñol said: "And so, in the view of our top officials in this country, the bombings in front of the churches of Cotabato City and Jolo and the blasting of a vehicle in Iligan City were just routine. And the killing of eight people, including several children, in Cotabato City and Jolo was nothing to be worried about."

"How insensitive could this government be? Why don't they try to say that to the carpenter from Cotabato City who lost his children in that blast? Or to former Mindanao Cross and veteran journalist Patricio Diaz whose grandchild died in the bombing in front of the Cotabato Cathedral?" Pi?ol added.

He said that if this is how the country's top officials look at the problems besetting this island over the last four decades, "it is no wonder then that they could come up with such ridiculous ideas of solving the Mindanao problem by offering the loathed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which would have literally fed the civilians of the Southern Philippines to the furnace of endless killings and violence."

"Or the inane proposal of using the charisma and charm of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and naming Manny Pacquiao as the Ambassador of Peace to placate the terrorists in Mindanao whose ultimate objective is to establish an independent Islamic state," Pi?ol added.

Board member Ronaldo Pader said Gonzales' statements were "appalling and uncalled for."

"No wonder the peace process is going nowhere. Such insensitive and uncalled for statements only dampen the hopes and further aggravate the agony of the people of Mindanao," he said.

Pi?ol said the report bothered him no end.

"I am nauseated by this callousness and insensitivity of our government and I could literally throw up. I am disenchanted and numbed by this attitude of our government officials. What scandalizes me is the thought that they called the bombings 'routine' and the deaths of innocent civilians 'nothing to worry about' just to please a visiting American official. It is just like saying, 'Don't worry about the deaths. The victims anyway were just ordinary civilians and children of a carpenter. That's routine,'" Piñol said. (BOT)