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Sunday, February 03, 2008
Mayor: Al Khobar behind GenSan bombing
By Malu C. Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Al Khobar, a Central Mindanao-based extortion gang, admitted it was their group that bombed General Santos City on Wednesday night, saying such was one of the many attacks they set to launch in the coming days.
Kidapawan City Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco said he received calls from Al Khobar few hours after the blast that occurred in front of PhilBest Tuna Canning Company in Barangay Tambler last January 31.
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Four persons were killed and several others were injured in the said blast.
The caller used the same number that was registered in Gantuangco's mobile phone as Al Khobar.
"He was the same guy that extorted money from me minutes after the KMCC mall bombing last November 22 and few days after. It was also this guy that gave the account number of Nacir Abison," Gantuangco told Catholic-ran DXND here.
When Gantuangco was asked to describe the voice, he said: "It was neither Tagalog nor Cebuano tongue, it was more like a Muslim tongue."
Al Khobar, said Gantuangco, made several calls last Thursday, which prompted the mayor to call for an emergency meeting with the city's peace and order council on that day.
On Thursday night, he met with police and military intelligence officers, local legislators, including few of his friends from the business sector to discuss the matter.
They laid down plans and security measures to counter the attacks, he said. The mayor refused though to further discuss the plans as this may jeopardize the intelligence operations.
Few hours after the meeting, another transmission tower of the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) was bombed in Bacolod, Lanao Del Norte.
Transco officials estimated the damage at P12 million.
Transco, including big bus companies in Mindanao, had been receiving extortion threats from Al Khobar. It was not clear, though, if Transco had deposited protection money to Al Khobar's account.
Gantuangco's disclosure has corroborated with the statements made earlier by top executives of PhilBest Tuna Canning Company that the Wednesday bombing was indeed an "act of terror" and not a product of a labor dispute as alleged by some local government officials in General Santos City.
Al Khobar also told Gantuangco that they were outraged when they learned that several warrants of arrest were already issued against them.
"If what you say on TV was true, then, we would like to tell you that we're ready. But you must be ready too," the caller warned Gantuangco.
On December 2007, few weeks after Gantuangco made two deposits to Abison's account amounting to P100,000, he executed an affidavit that led to the filing of criminal charges against 31 members of Al Khobar, including a Malaysian national believed to be a member of Jemaah Islamiyah. The deposits made by Gantuangco were traced in a bank in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay.
The Malaysian national, however, was only described in the warrant issued by Judge Rogelio Naresma of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23, as "John Doe."
Gantuangco said he is not "cowered" by the warnings made by Al Khobar. He instead urged his constituents: "We must not be shaken. Let's help each other arrest this menace." (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(February 3, 2008 issue)
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