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Saturday, April 05, 2003
Villagers hit Moro man's arrest for Sasa blast
By Rex C. Otero
DAVAO -- Armed men seized a community leader in Barangay Ma-a in Davao City Thursday, a day after a powerful bomb exploded outside the crowded passenger terminal of the Sasa Wharf, and his neighbors believed he was arrested on suspicion he had a hand in that blast.
Ma-a barangay chief Loreto Laud said Sabdurah Ala, a 48-year-old Moro welder, has yet to return home after armed men invited him for questioning over possible involvement in the port explosion that killed 16 persons and wounded 55 others.
Laud believes the armed men are plainclothes policemen.
Authorities released Friday a cartographic sketch of another suspect in the April 2 bombing in Sasa.
Based on the description of witnesses, police said the suspect is between 25 to 27 years old, 5'7" tall, of slim build and fair complexion.
Also on Friday, Catholic bishops condemned the attacks Thursday on four mosques in Davao, which some believe were in retaliation for the Sasa blast.
The bishops, members of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the attacks could fan religious conflict in the strife-torn region.
President Arroyo, shortly after the bombing at the Sasa port, ordered a massive police-military crackdown on all terrorist groups and criminal elements in Davao, which she said had been placed under a state of "lawless violence".
Her spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, on Friday said Arroyo would forego her 56th birthday celebration Saturday and is instead offering a cash prize of P1 million to anyone who could give information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
Law-abiding
The Ma-a barangay chief believes Ala is not one of these men.
Laud said Ala, president of trisikad drivers' association in Ma-a, is a law-abiding person who has been very active in activities undertaken by the barangay.
Ala's relatives corroborated Laud's claim that Ala was taken by armed men, who they believed are Davao policemen.
"Second time na man na. Dili na man mi matingala ana kay basta naay mahitabo sa dakbayan sa Davao, mga Muslim dayon sa Ma-a maoy katahapan," Laud said. (This is the second time this happened. We are no longer surprised for every time something happens in Davao the Muslims are always being blamed.)
A day after the March bombing of the airport waiting shed killed 21 people and injured 115 others, three Moro residents of Ma-a were also invited for questioning by police.
Ustadz Kamar Lupon, Ala's cousin, said in a radio interview Friday he saw four armed men forcibly took Ala at around 5 p.m. on Thursday. He said there were other witnesses who saw Ala being dragged into a waiting white van without a plate number.
"Sulti sa mga nakakita nga giagbayan daw ug gipugos pagpapasakay sa van," Lupon, who was one of those invited for questioning over the March 4 airport bombing, said. (Witnesses said he was forced to board the van.)
He said he was concerned that every time an explosion hits Davao, the Muslims were always being blamed.
Two suspects
Chief Insp. Vicente Danao of the Talomo police denied they have arrested someone in connection with the Sasa bombing.
As police released Friday the cartographic sketch of the second suspect in the blast, Police Regional Office 11 Director Isidro Lapeņa urged the public to cooperate and report to authorities the suspects' whereabouts.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte presented the first sketch to members of media during President Arroyo's press conference in Davao on Thursday.
Lapeņa said the sketches should alert citizens to the two suspects' identities.
He added that a team from the United States FBI is expected to arrive in Davao City Friday to help local authorities investigate Wednesday's explosion at the port.
US embassy spokeswoman Karen Kelley on Friday condemned the Davao bombings as a terrorist act.
"We join the Philippine government in condemning this atrocity, which from all indications appears to be a terrorist attack," Kelley said, but added it was premature to link the attack to any group because an investigation was underway.
"We offer our condolences to the victims and their families," she said.
A US citizen was among 22 people killed in a similar bomb attack at the Davao international airport last month, which has been blamed on the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.
Restraint, sobriety
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, urged "restraint and sobriety" among members of the Catholic and Muslim communities in Davao.
"As I condemn in the strongest terms the bombing at Sasa Wharf that killed numerous innocent civilians and injured many more, so I condemn most strongly the bombing of three mosques," said
"The bombing of sacred places like mosques is meant to inflame religious sentiments and biases and aims to inject a religious dimension into a conflict that is primarily political and economic," he said.
In another development, Bunye announced Friday night that President Arroyo has offered a P1 million bounty for any info that would lead to the arrest of the bomb suspects.
"President Arroyo is foregoing her birthday celebration tomorrow (April 5). She has decided instead to earmark the amount of P1 million to help in the campaign against terrorism," he added.
He said Arroyo was not about to let terrorists succeed in turning Davao into a city ruled by fear.
She is confident that Mayor Duterte, aided by the military, police and the entire citizenry, will catch the culprits soon and will return the city back to normalcy.
"Duterte has done this before. He can do it again," Bunye added. Sun.Star Davao |
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