Security adviser Cesar Garcia said it was too early to say exactly who was behind the blast, but pointed out that the attack was very similar to a bus bombing on EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue) that killed four people and injured 60 others on Feb. 14, 2005.

“An investigation of the 2005 Valentine’s Day bombing showed the suspects rode the bus, carried the (bomb) in a backpack, left the backpack, got off... (and) detonated the bomb with the use of a cell phone,” Garcia said in a television interview.

The Abu Sayyaf, a bandit group linked to al-Qaida and blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks and a string of kidnappings, claimed credit for the 2005 attack. It has remained silent following Tuesday’s explosion.

Long-term target

Garcia said groups like the Abu Sayyaf wanted to attack Metro Manila, more than 1,000 kilometers from their strongholds in remote jungles and isolated Muslim-populated towns in Mindanao.

He said Metro Manila had been “a long-term aspirational target” of the organizations operating in Mindanao.

“It’s been five years since a major terrorist attack in Manila. We have to be lucky all the time (to stop an attack). They have to be lucky just once,” Garcia said.

While Garcia was inclined to blame the bombing to groups like the Abu Sayyaf, President Aquino, who the day before said terrorists were behind the explosion, was more guarded Wednesday about his statements on the possible perpetrators.

The President said the authorities had yet to pinpoint the group behind Tuesday’s bombing.

Mr. Aquino said the Cabinet intelligence cluster was “trying to correlate all of this data again, revisit all of these to find out if there were any indications of any groups that were planning this.”

After attending the 400th anniversary celebration of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, he told reporters that he would not point to any particular group at this time.

Mr. Aquino added that he was “not even sure that the terrorist label is the most appropriate” because it was also possible the bombing could have been carried out by groups out to extort money from the bus firm.

Destabilization angle

Twenty-four hours after the blast, Philippine National Police Director General Raul Bacalzo and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo admitted that the police had no leads yet on whether this was carried out by terrorists or extortionists.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile prodded Bacalzo to look into the connections between Tuesday’s blast and the countryside bombings, and not to rule out the angle of destabilization.

The involvement of all terror groups, including the Jemaah Islamiyah, would be looked into, they told the Senate committee on public order, which opened an inquiry on the rash of crimes in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

“That’s the direction we’re headed to,” Bacalzo said when asked by Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. if a mortar head was used for an explosive device. “In Mindanao, particularly in Central Mindanao, we’ve had incidents where mortar heads were used in the bombing of buses in North Cotabato.”

After the hearing, the PNP chief told reporters: “We’re looking at the similarity or style with other bombings in the past.”

North Cotabato was rocked by bomb explosions late last year. Eleven passengers were killed and scores of others were hurt when a device exploded on a bus along the highway in Matalam town in October last year. In November, a student was killed while two bystanders were hurt when an explosive device went off near a public market in Carmen town. Then in December, an explosive device thrown from a bus exploded on a highway also in Carmen. Nobody was injured.

Extortion

One of the suspects in the November blast claimed to be a member of the notorious Al Khobar group that allegedly extorted money from local officials in North Cotabato and parts of Southern and Central Mindanao.

Both Bacalzo and Robredo said it was premature to pinpoint if the bombing was carried out by terrorists or extortionists.

“All of those are possible,” Robredo said when asked in an interview if the authorities were looking into the involvement of terror groups such as the Jemaah Islamiyah. “But let’s not single out any group because this might limit the investigation.”

Director Nicanor Bartolome, head of the National Capital Region Police Office, said the involvement of all terror groups would be looked into.

“They had been quiet for some time, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have activities,” he told reporters.

Two suspects

The head of the Southern Police District, Chief Supt. Jose Arne de los Santos, told reporters that investigators had two “possible suspects.”

“Right now, we have taken statements [from] the driver and other passengers that have led us to some possible suspects,” said De los Santos, head of Task Group Gold Line.

Sketches of the bombers have been drawn but these were still subject for verification by the victims still being interviewed one by one by investigators, he said.

Since the investigation started Tuesday night, police managed to piece together what was left of the bomb from the debris they gathered at the crime scene. From the reconstructed bomb, they concluded that the main charge was a mortar round.

The shell, whose casing fragmented when it exploded, was triggered by a Nokia 5310 cell phone, De los Santos said.

Bomb signature

He said the reconstructed shell had been sent to the explosives data center in Camp Crame to verify if it contained a “signature” based on the office’s records. A signature refers to the manner the bomb maker built the explosive.

“When we say signature, normally [it refers to] who did it because there is a history of that bomb being used in some places on some other times. From there, we’ll find out if there had been suspects arrested for [the bomb],” De los Santos said.

Somewhere in Malibay

Investigators were reviewing the footage from closed circuit television cameras of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Based on the conductor’s statement, the “possible suspects” got on the bus “somewhere in Malibay, Pasay,” and one of them asked a passenger if the bus would pass Ayala Avenue, De los Santos said.

“The conductor noticed that the persons alighted from the bus before it reached Ayala,” the official said, adding that the group would further request from the MMDA for copies of CCTV footages covering as far as the area near Heritage Hotel on EDSA.

Security beefed up

Police forces were put on alert and security in possible targets, including airports, hotels, Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit lines, bus terminals and public places, was strengthened.

“There will be some extra inconveniences, but our public transport system will be safe,” Robredo said.

The police said marshals would be boarding some of the 7,000 buses that ply the streets every day.

TJ Burgonio, Christine O. Avendaño, Miko Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer