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Tuesday, December 16, 2003
American holds key to Mindanao bombings: NPA
GENERAL SANTOS -- A spokesperson of the National Democratic Front (NDF) Mindanao disclosed Monday the existence of an Australian and American forensic report that would implicate the military in the Davao International Airport bombing.
NDF Spokesperson Ka Oris said Michael Terrence Meiring possesses the Pandora's box that can unravel the mystery in the bombings in Mindanao.
He said New People's Army (NPA) intelligence points to the existence of Australian and American forensic reports incriminating the AFP in the March 4 Davao International Airport bombing.
Ka Oris, testified via phone patch to a citizen-led independent fact finding mission during the hearings on December 9.
NDF-Mindanao accused the Government of conniving with US spy agents to whisk off Meiring from Davao City after he was victimized by the explosive he was handling inside Evergreen Hotel.
Ka Oris said Meiring's hospital expenses were paid by a vice consul of the US Embassy in Manila and that he was flown away in a US chartered plane.
He also cited information from "some personalities and our own informants" as well as secondary data from investigative reports that Meiring had vast connections inside the government.
Ka Oris criticized the government for allowing Meiring to be slipped out of the country "in violation of the county's sovereignty and in spite of a crime of said magnitude."
He said these incidents indicate Meiring enjoyed the protection of government and that the State knew or allowed his activities.
Meiring was already charged before the Regional Trial Court of Davao City and a warrant for his arrest was issued on June 23, 2002, at the time Meiring was spirited out of the city.
Lawyer Beverly Musni, InPeace Mindanao convenor and member of the TruthCom, said their independent probe would take into account the case of Meiring, which has been archived by the Regional Trial Court in Davao City.
She said Meiring should be extradited to answer the charges leveled against him.
Ka Oris also said intelligence reports gathered by the NPA point to the existence of a forensic report on the March 4 Davao International Airport bombing, which was not released because it would incriminate the government.
"The bombing experts investigated the bombing in Davao City. When they left, units in the AFP expected some documents to be left behind by these experts. When (these units) called a friend in the intelligence community, the agent told them the experts did not leave any documents because the results were incriminating," Ka Oris claimed.
When pressed by Rev. Dandy Corro, a member of the independent probe body, to disclose the name of the NDF source, Ka Oris declined "as this would jeopardize the security of the NDF contacts inside the AFP."
The NDF leader also said: "A PNP officer from Manila was detailed in the Cotabato area to scout for possible people who will handle locally-made explosives. This happened before the bombings in Davao City."
(December 16, 2003 issue)
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