MILF springs 46 from
Cotabato jail 3 bombing suspects
among escapees
SUSPECTED members of the secessionist Moro
Islamic Liberation Front yesterday raided the provincial jail of
North Cotabato and rescued 46 inmates, including three suspects
in a bombing in Kidapawan City four years ago.
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, AFP public
information office chief, said the rebel group exploded an
improvised explosive device at the back of the detention
facility at around 1:30 a.m. to break open the jail’s concrete
wall.
Bacarro said policemen guarding the detention
center, which housed 789 prisoners, clashed with the rebels for
at least 15 minutes but the lawmen were overpowered.
A SENIOR defense official yesterday corrected
the statement of Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. that
the military will still play a role in the May elections,
particularly in the transport of election materials.
Ernesto Carolina, defense undersecretary for
civil relations, said the soldiers’ role in the transport of
election paraphernalia will be limited to escort duties.
"They (soldiers) are not going to transport
but to act as escort when so requested, provided that the
security provided by the PNP is not adequate to contain, to
address the threat," he said.
THE international group Reporters Without
Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) has tagged presidential
spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo as the "new enemy" of the Philippine
press for the series of libel suits he has filed against
journalists.
The new moniker of Arroyo was contained in
the organization’s survey on the status of press freedom in 98
countries in 2006. The report was posted in its website
www.rsf.org.
RSF found it ironic that Arroyo lodged 43
libel complaints against journalists while his wife, President
Arroyo, claimed that her government was "respectful of press
freedom, an institution of Philippine democracy."
