News Roundup 06 November 2022
Nov 06, 2022 • 5 min Read
1 dead, 11 hurt in Tacurong City bus bombing | PHILSTAR.COM – A passenger was killed while 11 others were badly hurt in a bomb explosion inside a bus in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province at noon on Sunday. Police Lt. Col. Joan Maganto, chief of the Tacurong City Police, said Sunday the unit of the Yellow Bus Company was on its way to the city terminal from Cotabato province when the improvised explosive device went off. Probers are certain the IED used in the attack was detonated from a distance using a mobile phone. Local police and officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division told reporters one of the 12 passengers hurt in the explosion succumbed to shrapnel wounds. The Tacurong City police and the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office have yet to identify the victims. Senior police and Army intelligence officials are certain either the Dawla Islamiya, or its ally, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, was responsible for the bombing. Both groups are operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Major Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the 6ID, said the bombing was perpetrated while division personnel are busy with relief operations in areas devastated by Tropical Storm Paeng. “The bombers took advantage of the situation. We shall do our best to identify, along with the police, the people responsible for this atrocity, a clear act of terror,” Galido said. Police Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said their intelligence agents will help identify the bombers. The Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF have a reputation for bombing public conveyances and business establishments if owners refuse to shell out “protection money” on monthly basis.
Teacher who was part-time cartoonist killed in Sultan Kudarat | PHILSTAR.COM – A teacher who was also an editorial cartoonist was shot dead in a town in Sultan Kudarat on Saturday night in what student organization College Editors Guild of the Philippines said is part of a culture of violence and impunity in the Philippines. According to initial reports, including from 91.3 Brigada News FM Lebak in Sultan Kudarat, local police are investigating the death of Benharl Kahil, who was shot dead in the town’s Barangay Pasandalan. Kahil was a teacher and art coordinator at Lebak Legislated National High School who also created editorial cartoons, according to a Rappler report. Police Lt. Col. Julius Malcontento, chief of the Lebak Municipal Police Station, said Kahil died from seven gunshot wounds in different parts of his body. He added the victim was attacked by a man, armed with a 9-millimeter pistol. “This shooting poses a great threat not just to freedom of expression and press freedom, but also to other cartoonists, journalists, and advocates,” CEGP said as it cited how the killing comes just days after a Committee to Protect Journalists report including the Philippines among countries with poor track records in resolving murders of journalists in the past decade. The report was released on November 2, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. Cartoonist organization Pitik Bulag described Kahil as a “napakahusay na kartunista (a brilliant cartoonist)” and cited his wins in contests that the group organized. Among the themes his cartoons tackled were human rights abuses, the dolomite beach in Manila, and historical distortion of Martial Law. Although police have yet to draw conclusions on the killing, CEGP said that Kahil was “another victim of the culture of violence, abuse, and impunity cultivated by authoritarian regimes, especially against truth-tellers.” The organization of student publications also called on “fellow Guilders, the cartooning and journalism community, and all freedom-loving Filipinos to join us in calling for justice for Kahil.”
AMLC report: Gunman also paymaster in Percy Slay | INQUIRER.NET – Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Saturday said the confessed gunman in the killing of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa acted as the paymaster to his five accomplices in the assassination plot. According to Remulla, a report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) had confirmed that P550,000 was deposited into the bank account of Joel Escorial, who surrendered to the police on Oct. 17, admitting that he was the person who shot and killed Mabasa on Oct. 3. In his interview with dzBB radio station on Saturday, Remulla said Escorial gave a “very accurate” account of his role. Responding to a question, the justice secretary said the alleged gunman did not distribute all the P550,000 to his accomplices in one go. According to the AMLC report, Escorial made “many deposits” to the accounts of his accomplices within a “20-day period,” Remulla said without elaborating. Remulla did not identify who deposited the payment for the hit job, saying that would have to be further looked into because “it sheds more light into the financial activities” inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City. In his extrajudicial confession, Escorial said he got a call from his childhood friend from Leyte, Cristito “Jun Villamor” Palaña, an inmate at NBP to contract the killing of Mabasa who acted as a “middleman” to the mastermind. He identified his other accomplices as a certain Orly, or Orlando, who drove his getaway motorcycle; brothers Edmon and Israel Dimaculangan, the backup gunmen; and the “second” middleman, Christopher Bacoto, who was being held by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology awaiting resolution of several criminal cases. Palaña died in mysterious circumstances a day after Escorial surrendered. In a supplemental affidavit on Oct. 22, Escorial said that Palaña had told him that the order to kill Mabasa came from a certain Bantag. He did not give the full name of the person.
