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Friday, November 19, 2004
Bomb blasts rock Japanese firm building
By Ben Serrano
BUTUAN CITY -- Butuan City police are eyeing the involvement of professional extortionists in three blasts at the main administration office of Japanese construction firm Towa Construction at 7:15 Wednesday night.
They said the blasts, which occurred at the construction firm's office in Sitio Bingkilan, Barangay Bingkilan, were caused by M-79 or rifle grenade M-203 weapons.
The firm allegedly failed to pay "extortion money" to organized extortionists believed to be composed of military men, as evidenced by the high-powered firearms used.
These extortionists have been asking and pestering Towa Construction officials in the past weeks.
Police said, however, they are not discounting the involvement of the New People's Army (NPA) in the bombing allegedly due to the company's non-payment of "revolutionary taxes."
But an insider of the construction firm who requested anonymity hinted the letter didn't bear the "genuine" seal of the communist rebels that they usually place in the "revolutionary letter" to collect revolutionary taxes.
Ricardo "Boy" Fernandez, civilian bodyguard of Towa Construction Project manager Toshiro Kimura, told reporters that at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday night, three blasts were heard inside the compound in their area.
He said the compound houses the administration building and storage facilities of the foreign construction firm and the explosions occurred while workers were about to head home.
Flagship project
No one was reportedly hurt in the explosions, which security personnel suspected were just "warning blasts" aimed to sow fear among employees.
Butuan police believed the extortionists are composed of professional criminals who are former military men.
They also used to extort money from tree farmers, illegal loggers and vegetable, crops and fruit haulers and traders passing checkpoints.
Towa Construction firm officials are still assessing the damage to the company building caused by the blasts, which created a half-meter hole of the administration building's roofing.
The Japanese firm is undertaking construction of the second Butuan Bridge and the 13 kilometers by-pass road described by Department of Public Works and Highways officials as one of major tourist attractions once it will be finished 30 months from now.
The construction is one of the flagship infra projects of the Arroyo administration which costs a whopping P2.889 billion.
The amount is a soft loan from Japanese International Bank for Cooperation (JBIC) granted to the National Government.
The bridge if finished plays a vital role in decongesting traffic at present the Butuan Magsaysay Bridge, the lone bridge connecting motorists from Surigao, Davao provinces to Butuan City, the regional center of Caraga which in turn crosses Mindanao's longest river, the Agusan River.
Construction officials have ordered a temporary stoppage of all construction works pending investigation of the incident.
Authorities said were it not for the bombings they would not have learned the existence of death threats and extortion letters allegedly handed to the firm weeks ago.
Towa Construction started construction of the second bridge only last May this year after President Arroyo personally attended the inaugural rites.
(November 19, 2004 issue)
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2 more Davao 'bombers' nabbed in Davao Norte