'Bombapalooza 2'
By Carlos Isagani Zarate
Inquirer News Service

"IT was a security nightmare," confessed an executive of Matina Town Square, a complex housing several trendy bars in Davao City. MTS, as almost everyone knows, hosted last Feb. 12 the 10-second nationwide "Lovapalooza 2." The pre-Valentine event attracted a big smooching crowd, mostly teenagers, out to establish a world-record number of couples kissing simultaneously.

Despite the nightmarish security concerns, the organizers hailed the mass-kissing party as a huge success. The event was a testament to the city's vibrant state, it has been claimed, despite the city's many unsolved extra-judicial killings (and the ongoing war in some parts of Sulu). That was one irony of the event that did not escape the attention of the widely circulated Mindanao Daily Mirror.

In its Valentine's Day editorial, the Mirror said: "All would have been benign, actually, were it not for the backdrop of lawlessness prevailing in the city. For how ironic it is that we're celebrating Valentine's Day today amidst a pall of fear and helplessness. How ironic it is that we have the nerve to enjoin the masses to kiss and party, when it is their ranks that have been traditionally decimated in the name of national security, anti-terrorism, or law and order. Indeed, it was a steamy, if not sinister, diversion. We've had more than one murder a day hereabouts since the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, which is galling to say the least."

Mirror's editorial aptly summed up the concerns of many Davaoenos over the continued failure of law enforcement authorities in Davao City to solve the murders committed by motorcycle-riding gunmen, whose victims since Jan. 1, 2005 now number 50, including Panabo City lawyer Reuel Dalguntas who was killed Feb. 5.

The killing of Dalguntas, authorities claimed, was a "copy-cat" killing by hired goons; it was not a hit by self-proclaimed vigilantes out to eliminate crime suspects in the city. "Yet, this will not erase the fact these killings were happening because of the continued failure of law enforcement authorities to run after these motorcycle-riding assassins," said the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Davao City Chapter in its statement condemning the killing of Dalguntas, a former investigator of the Commission on Human Rights in Region 11.

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Nonetheless, for all intents and purposes, it was still fortunate that the mass kissing party was held before Valentine's Day. Otherwise, "Lovapalooza 2" would have gone down on record as "Bombapalooza 2." Davao City is once again reeling from the Valentine's Day bombings that also hit the cities of General Santos and Makati.

The V-Day bombing clearly unnerved Davaoenos whose memories of the 2003 twin-bombings at the Davao International Airport and Sasa Wharf remain fresh. A 12-year-old boy selling durian candies at the Ecoland bus terminal was the lone fatality this time. But that did not diminish the city residents' shock. Especially because it happened a few meters away from the headquarters of the "anti-terrorist" military contingent Task Force Davao (TFD), which was created and is largely supported financially by the city government to secure the city's vital installations and establishments following the 2003 twin-bombings.

This early, as authorities track down the perpetrators of the V-Day bombings, fears are being raised by concerned groups that the "usual suspects"-the Moro community-will again be made the subject of illegal raids, searches and abductions. Indeed, in the aftermath of the more than 30 "mystery bombings" that have struck several parts of Mindanao since 2001, it has always been the Moro communities that suffered the brunt of retaliatory actions. In Davao City, for instance, four Moro leaders, abducted by armed men following the 2003 bombings, are still missing.

Meanwhile, the court trial of the arrested suspects is yet to start. In contrast, until now, authorities have yet to identify and arrest those who strafed and bombed several Muslim mosques in Davao City, following the airport and seaport bombings.

The V-Day bombing also resurrected unanswered questions related to the 2003 bombings. Among these: Why the bombed airport area was "hastily cleaned up" even before experts could start their investigations. In fact, a foreign expert reportedly commented in jest that the bombers are really "professional" because the crime scene was "wiped clean." Also, several officers involved in the failed Oakwood mutiny had claimed that the Davao mosque bombings were ordered by their superiors, a claim that was merely dismissed and never seriously investigated.

But one important case that the authorities, especially the national government, have until now ignored is that of American Michael Terrence Meiring, the principal suspect in the May 16, 2002 bomb explosion in Evergreen Hotel in Davao City. A day after the explosion, alleged agents of the FBI spirited out of Davao City the wounded Meiring and nothing was heard of him since then. InPeace Mindanao, a civil society group, reported that Meiring is believed to be a CIA agent "with years of deep exposure and an expansive network of friends and contacts in Mindanao." The Meiring incident until now still angers Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has vowed to make Meiring "answer for his crimes."

Perhaps, before rushing to pass the so-called "anti-terrorism" law, it would be better for Congress to first look into who the real sponsors of terrorism in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country are.

Comments to karlos_z23@hotmail.com and kar_laws@yahoo.com