Police: Business rivalry possible motive in bus bombing

PARANG, Maguindanao - The perpetrators of Sunday’s bus bombing here planted two explosives in the vehicle but only one went off, hurting six passengers.

In separate statements Monday, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division said there are indications that a group opposing the operation of the Rural Tours on the Dipolog-Pagadian-Cotabato-GenSan route could be responsible for the bombing of its unit while in Barangay Makir here.

Operators and drivers of air-conditioned passenger vans plying the Cotabato-Pagadian route had been affected by its operation owing to its much lower fare rates.

Six bus passengers, Feysel Culag, 40, Expedito Ocay, 45, Benjamin Wahab, 32, Pastor Bularon, 53, Elgene Palma, 30 and the 17-year-old John Paul Capio, were injured in the explosion.

Lt. Col. Joseph Macatangay, chief of the Parang Municipal Police Station, said Monday the improvised explosive device used in the attack was identical with what local terror groups had used in recent bombings in central Mindanao.

The IED was detonated from a distance using a mobile phone.

Units  of the Rural Tours started plying the highways connecting the cities of Dipolog, Pagadian, Cotabato and General Santos only last March.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, who has condemned the bombing, said a secondary explosive was found underneath the seat of the bombed out bus.

The IED that exploded inside the bus was planted under its rearmost seat. 

Responding Army and police bomb disposal experts had promptly deactivated the second IED.

Intelligence operatives of 6^th ID and the Navy’s 1^st Marine Brigade are helping the Parang municipal police and PRO-BAR identify the people behind the bombing. 

Brig. Gen. Arthur Cabalona, director of PRO-BAR, has also condemned the atrocity.

He said they will immediately file corresponding criminal cases against the culprits once identified.