Philippines: ASG as Batasan bombing suspects ‘too convenient’

Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran today said that the
Philippine National Police (PNP)’s theory that last Tuesday’s bomb
blast that killed four people and wounded several others including
Gabriela Women’s Party List Rep. Luz Ilagan was meant for Basilan Rep.
Wahab Akbar was ‘too cut and dried, too convenient for the PNP’ and
that it was ‘highly suspicious how the PNP is now fitting the pieces
of the mystery together in a seemingly ordered and fastidious fashion
right after National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said that they
had received word that there were threats against the Basilan solon.’

“In any case, it all fits too perfectly to not be suspicious. It all
appears orchestrated. Solving the case this early – determining the
supposed target of the attack, finding and executing the perpetrators
– will justify the end of the investigations and once more the Arroyo
administration has gotten yet another reprieve. The bomb blasts
effectively took some of the public’s attention away from the
outrageous manipulation of the impeachment process the president’s
allies undertook,” he said.

“It could well be that Rep. Akbar was not the only target, but many
other representatives were, and it did not matter who they were or
whether they represented the Minority or the Majority. The attack was
directed against the House of Representatives, and this possibility is
what the PNP should be exploring instead of rashly concluding that
Rep. Akbar was the primary target based on the most circumstantial
evidence. The killing of the three suspected Abu Sayyaf members in
Payatas is also too convenient for the PNP and the Macapagal-Arroyo
government itself — with three suspects dead, the PNP is again given
a chance to justify the conclusion of investigations and charge the
blast to the Abu Sayyaf,” he said. “For the sake of the victims and
their families, the true perpetrators and the real motives should be
exposed.”

The veteran labor leader turned activist lawmaker said that whatever
the outcome of the PNP’s investigations, the Filipino people’s
over-all opinion on the blast is this: the Arroyo government and its
militarist elements are using these bombing attacks to divert the
public’s attention from the worsening political and economic crisis.
There are unmistakable signs that these militarist elements within the
administration are relying more and more on the use of violent means
to distract the people’s focus from the corruption scandals and other
crimes of the Arroyo presidency, as well as from the burgeoning calls
for the president’s impeachment, resignation or ouster.

Beltran reiterated his call for independent and more credible
investigations into the blast.

In the meantime, Beltran also said that the killing of the three Abu
Sayyaf suspects in Payatas should also be thoroughly checked. “They
were suspects – as yet there are no reports definitely confirming the
three individuals as Abu Sayyaf members. If certain allegations that
the government operatives are actually behind the blasts, the theory
that the evidence found on the suspects was planted and that three
suspects were actually contracted to execute the bomb blasts should
also be explored. No stone should be left unturned, and all angles and
theories should be explored before the PNP should issue more
conclusions,” he concluded.#

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