COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Members of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 7 (MBLT-7) and the local police foiled on Wednesday night a plot by suspected extremists to bomb lodging houses in this city.
Lt. Col. Dorotheo Jose Jalandoni, commanding officer of MBLT-7, said policemen and Marines, acting on information from barangay officials, found the improvised explosives after an extensive search using bomb-sniffing dogs in one of the rooms of the N.D. Avenue Lodging House.
Authorities said the bombs were apparently hidden there as part of a bigger plot to bomb two lodging houses in the city’s main commercial district.
Jalandoni said the improvised explosives, fashioned from an 81-mm and two 60-mm mortar projectiles rigged with trip wire, were immediately detonated outside the lodging house.
Jalandoni said two handguns were also found in a bag in the same room at N.D. Avenue Lodging House.
Police intelligence sources said they have been receiving persistent but unverified reports that the group behind the bombing plot is composed of newly trained followers of foreign-trained bomber Basit Usman.
Usman was tagged as the mastermind in more than a dozen bombings in public places and buses in Central Mindanao from 2003 to 2009.
Usman, an ethnic Maguindanaon, was said to have undergone training in handling and fabrication of explosives in Kandahar, Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan in the 1990s. – With Roel Pareño, Jaime Laude
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy has commissioned two vessels into active service during its recent 73rd anniversary celebration held at Sangley Point in Cavite City.
Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay, director of the Naval Public Affairs Office, said the two newly-commissioned vessels – BRP Emilio Liwanag (PG118) and BRP Manobo (AT297) – were repaired using deadlocked parts which were sourced from the systems and machinery of vessels.
PG118 is one of the seven Patrol Killer Medium (PKM) gunboats acquired from South Korea but had to undergo repairs when she was turned over to the Philippine Navy.
On the other hand, BRP Manobo is a combat and logistics support vessel used to transport personnel and cargo. Formerly categorized as a boat unit of the Philippine Navy, BRP Manobo was commissioned to increase logistics support capability of the navy.
The commissioning ceremony was presided by the Flag Officer-In-Command Vice Admiral Alexander Pama.
The Navy also inaugurated the Fleet Command Center (FCC) equipped with information systems designed to show real time dispositions of its troops, vessels, manpower and aerial assets nationwide, through a computerized network of information and database systems.
It is expected that the new technological innovations will enable the Philippine Fleet to promptly assess situations at sea, address security concerns and respond efficiently during emergencies.
Rear Admiral Jose Luis Alano, Commander of the Philippine Fleet, said that the new technological innovation is designed to improve its operational capabilities as part of its modernization program. (EHL)
