KIDAPAWAN CITY – Cotabato Governor Lala Talinio-Mendoza has offered a reward of up to P100,000 for information about the three suspects who left a bag with an improvised explosive device (IED) that exploded inside a passenger bus in North Cotabato on Thursday. Citing initial police reports, Mendoza said three suspects boarded Rural Transit Bus (with body number 2284) in Kabacan, North Cotabato on Thursday. They reportedly disembarked from the bus when it reached the Matalam, just before the bomb exploded. After a meeting with police officers from Central Mindanao here, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief, Deputy Director General Raul Bacalzo has ordered a thorough probe of the incident. He assigned Supt. Alex Tagum, chief of the Cotabato Public Safety Company, to head the "Task Force Rural Transit Bus." Although nothing is definite yet in their post-blast investigations, Bacalzo said authorities are considering three possible motives in the explosion:
extortion; terrorism, or a retaliation of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after one of their high-ranking officials was arrested last month in Davao City. However, the MILF has already denied involvement in the blast. “We do not want to speculate. All angles are being considered. Also, we don’t want to issue a definitive statement as of this time," Bacalzo told the media here. Bacalzo said he already ordered operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to perform cartographic sketches of the blast suspects. Bacalzo said that both the police and the Rural Transit management had committed security lapses and had become careless for not taking precautions. The bus driver, in an interview over Catholic-ran DXND, has admitted having picked up passengers along the highway because of their desire to earn more. Buses plying the highway in Cotabato, Davao, and Sultan Kudarat have been subjected to bombings, extortions, and other harassments, since 2000. “Every after bus explosion, the management and security personnel start employing safety measures, including baggage inspection and passengers’ check. But few months later, when everything returns to normal, they start to lax again," said Bacalzo. Meanwhile, based on the bomb fragments collected at the blast site by the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team of the Philippine Army, the bomb that exploded inside the Rural Transit was fashioned from an 81-mm mortar attached to a triggering device. However, as to the component of the bomb, the experts have no idea yet. “[This is why] we have a second round of investigation. That’s why we are protecting the blast site," Bacalzo said. –VVP, GMANews.TV 
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