Is CDO bombing a case of wagging the dog?
I may sound insensitive or paranoid, or both, but I am quite suspicious about the Cagayan de Oro City bombing.
First of all, no one—not the Abu Sayyaf, nor the Moro National Liberation Front, not even the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement—claims responsibility for it. Usually, one of these groups would claim responsibility for a terrorist attack like a bombing incident to state their cause.
Another striking fact is no shrapnel or metal part was recovered from the blast site or from the bodies of the victims. It gives an impression that the bomb used in the blast was not meant to cause massive damage or harm. What then might be the most probable driving force of those who were behind the blast?
I hope the bombing was not one of those old-school tactics of diverting public attention from a politically devastating issue to a much lesser one. For as of the moment, the country is preoccupied with mind-boggling scandals like the P10-billion pork barrel scam and the Mafia-style execution of two notorious bank robbers who had claimed that some cops were in their payroll. The first issue caused a lot of people, including Catholic bishops and priests, and even some lawmakers, to call for the scrapping of the Priority Development Assistance Fund. It is now under investigation. The second issue is just as devastating—for it has led to a rift between some people in the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government. And then there is the alleged $30-million extortion by a high official of the Department of Transportation and Communications.
Again, I hope that my suspicion will prove wrong, for if I am right, it will give an impression that eight lives were sacrificed, not to mention the 46 who were injured, just to divert public attention from the pork barrel scam, rubout case and DOTC scandal.
Eight killed, 46 injured just to wag the dog.
—RANDLIER A. ORLINO,
