Saturday, August 16, 2008 Army recovers another IED By Malu C. Manar Correspondent
KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato -- M'lang Mayor Joselito Piñol has ordered suspension of classes of public schools in elementary and high school located in the town center a few minutes after an improvised explosive device (IED) was recovered near the area around 6:30 a.m. Friday.
The IED was discovered near Pilot Elementary School near the residence of Bishop Lampan situated on Gen. Roxas and Gen. Luna St., M'lang, North Cotabato. It was placed inside a plastic bag with a Nokia 3310 mobile phone as a triggering device.
"The classes are suspended for the whole day as search and clearing operations in the area are still on going," said Pinol in an interview over Catholic-ran dxND.
Operatives of the Army's Explosives and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) immediately defused the bomb.
Piñol expressed fears that more IEDs were still planted in different areas in his town.
"We just don't know what will happen. So, to spare the children from these attacks, I ordered the suspension of classes," said Piñol, adding the order was approved by Department of Education (DepEd) officials in his town.
On Thursday afternoon, an IED exploded while still in the possession of a suspected bomber identified as Norodin Alilaya, resident of Barangay Dungguan, M'lang.
The IED, according to town police director Reynante Cabico, malfunctioned when the bomber was about to place it in one of the garbage cans in the municipal public market.
Alilaya sustained minor powder burns, Cabico said.
The suspect, Piñol said, admitted to authorities his link with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
He also admitted he was tasked to bomb M'lang but refused to divulge the reasons why.
M'lang is the hometown of Cotabato Vice Governor Manny Piñol, one of those opposed to the inclusion of the province in the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).
Under the memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain (MOA-AD), the whole towns of Kabacan and Pikit, and 98 villages including three from M'lang town, would be included in the BJE.
Vice Governor Piñol is the elder brother of M'lang Mayor Joselito Piñol.
Piñol said they have been receiving bomb threats since the conflict in Aleosan and Pikit towns erupted. He said his family and the whole Piñol clan in North Cotabato are also being threatened because of their vehement opposition to MOA-AD. (With BOT)
