PNP CHIEF Gen. Guillermo Eleazar yesterday ordered a probe on the grenade explosion at an Army detachment in Maguindanao on Saturday night, shortly after Maguindanao Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu and his supporters passed.
No one was killed or injured in the blast from an improvised grenade thrown at the fence of the Army detachment in Sitio Pansol, Barangay Macasampen in Guindulungan town at around 6:30 p.m.
The blast occurred a few seconds after a 30-vehicle convoy carrying Mangudadatu, his children, and his supporters passed by the detachment.
Mangudadatu said his convoy was the object of the attack, adding he will not be threatened into abandoning his quest for reforms in the provinces.
Mangudadatu served as Maguindanao governor from 2010 to 2019 and is seeking a new term against reelectionist Gov. Bai Mariam Mangudadatu in next year’s elections. Bai is the wife Esmael’s cousin, incumbent Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu.
Eleazar said it is possible the convoy was the target of the grenade blast, or the convoy just happened to just pass when the explosion occurred.
Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao, said the terrorist Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Daulah Islamiyah may be behind the incident.
“It’s purely harassment of our detachment. That’s usual in that area, grenade throwing in our detachments,” said Baldomar.
As to the suspect, Baldomar said the BIFF and the Daulah Islamiyah usually used “diversionary tactics” because the military’s operations against them are continuing.
