Useless Military Check Points in Davao City

By Mortz Ortigoza

Security was tight last Saturday when I passed by Toril in Davao City when I left Kidapawan City through a public utility van.

Soldiers from Task Force Davao flagged all private and public vehicles that ingress the national highway before they reached the city proper.

“Kahit police pa ang nakasakay sa kotse pinapababa at ini-inspection ang mga bags nila,” one of the three Muslim guys who were my fellow passengers, probably college students, quipped in accented Tagalog.

A soldier in the Middle East uses a bomb detector device to check
the cars of terrorists who want to sabotage the tranquility of the area.
Filipino soldiers in bombed prone Davao City use a stick to dig the 
bags of commuters if they hid a bomb there.

They speak the vernacular in difference probably with the mostly Christian passengers in the Toyota Hi Ace Super Grandia used mostly by Mindanaons as common carrier that plies the Cotabato City- Davao City route.

***

I was dismayed about the antiquated system of the military in searching the bags of those who entered Duterte’s City Davao. Since time immemorial I’ve been observing the lack of initiatives of our government in searching the belongings of the commuters and motorists for concealed bomb that have rocked the City for several times in the past. How can a 12 inches stick, son of a gun, used by the soldiers detect an improvised explosive device (IED) in the three different checkpoint hubs they use to dig like idiots the upper portion of the stuffs in the bag? How about the taped packages and the boxes at the back of the van, trunks of the car and bus? How about if there was a bomb hidden at the lower belly pan of the motor vehicles? The government could purchase efficient detectors for these soldiers like those explosive sniffing dogs, hand held metal detector, and car security camera with motion detection device that cost only U.S $150 apiece as shown in the internet. These instruments have been used by the guards at those huge malls' SM, Robinsons, and others, plants of Coca-Cola and San Miguel Corporation, five star hotels, and other top 500 corporations in the country,” I wrote then.

“Madaling malusutan ng bomba itong check points, stick lang ang pinag inspection,” I told the three Muslim guys, who a bit surprised, nodded their heads on my observation.

Since 1981, the Durian City had been staggered by bombs from mostly suspected Muslim terrorists who used the Cotabato City- Davao City route to unleash their nefarious activities.

***

Below is the list of eight past explosions to hit Davao, as reported by Rappler:

In April 19, 1981, Easter Sunday two grenades were lobbed at San Pedro Cathedral.

The bomb killed 17 churchgoers and wounded 157 people; December 28, 1993, Sunday, the San Pedro Cathedral was targeted, with three grenades thrown inside the crowded church that killed six people and wounded 151; Eight hours after the incident, a suspected Christian militant bombed a mosque. No one was hurt; May 16, 2002 an explosion occurred inside the room of one Michael Terrence Meiring, an American, at the Evergreen Hotel. Meiring identified himself as a treasure hunter, and even joked that he was part of the "CIA."; March 4, 2003, unidentified men used an improvised explosive device to bomb the waiting area at the old Davao International Airport terminal (If I was not wrong I just left the airport for Manila when the bomb exploded there – MCO), killing 22 people and wounding 155 others. The government blamed "Muslim terror groups," in particular Jemaah Islamiyah, for the bombing. American and Australian investigators took part in the police investigation of the incident; April 3, 2003, barely a month after the Davao airport bombing, another powerful bomb exploded, this time at the entrance of Sasa Wharf. The incident, which the government blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), killed 16 people, including four policemen and a nun, and injured 46; February 14, 2005, at around 6 pm, an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded at the Davao City Overland Transport Terminal (DCOTT). The incident killed a 12-year-old boy and left 5 others wounded. The DCOTT bombing occurred almost simultaneously with the bombings in the cities of Makati and General Santos. The Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for it; September 13, 2013, at around 9 pm, two simultaneous explosions rocked movie theaters at SM City in Ecoland and Gaisano Mall of Davao in Bajada. No fatalities. A handful of moviegoers sustained minor injuries. This was followed by explosions in Cagayan de Oro City and Cotabato City in July of the same year; and on September 2, 2016, a bombing at a night market occurred in the City, causing at least 15 deaths and 70 injuries. 

***

Before I proceeded to Davao City for my 11:30 pm flight to Manila, I side tripped at Kidapawan City  from the rustic town of M’lang (town of Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol and Health Secretary  Paulyn Jean Ubial) and conferred with Mindanao's political kibitzer Luvin Candari about the electoral landscapes of the Southern Island  and the probable congressional, gubernatorial, and mayoral wannabees in the 2019 polls.
We broke breads and quaffed our brewed coffee there at AJ Hi Time Hotel, the watering hole of politicians and bigwigs of Central Mindanao, while I pressed the kibitzer for valuable information I could use on my radio and blog.

Mr. Candari, a school mate in high school, told me that Cotabato Province's outgoing governor Emmylou “Lala” Talino would be running unopposed for the 2019 congressional poll in the province’s Third Congressional District.

“What would happen to Representative Jose “Pingping” Tejada, my town mate in M’lang, he has still reelection to crack,” I posed.

Luvin said that Tejada could acquiesce to the ambition of the governor and run instead for the vice governorship under the ticket of Carmen Mayor Roger Talino, the father of Lala.

“Tejada could do nothing, he was a creation of the governor,” Luvin said.

By the way, according to then Duterte for President’s campaigner Pinol when I met him in Dagupan City, Roger came from Pangasinan.

My bilas Police Chief Superintendent (general in the military) Mariel Magaway told me that during the 2016 election campaign, a bearded man came to him while he was exchanging pleasantries with some generals.

The man introduced (probably saluting them) himself to him.

“Sir, kilala niyo pa ba ako?” the older Talino, the rubber and palm oil Czar of Cotabato, asked the then Colonel Magaway.

“Familiar kayo sa akin manong,” Magaway, a “mistah” at the PMA of PNP Chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, retorted.

“Tao niyo ako noon sa PC (defunct Philippine Constabulary) pa tayo,” the man said.

Talino, just like former Cotabato Province’s Governor Nick Dequina, that former Kabacan town Mayor, and even former U.S Defense Secretary Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel, was a Master Sergeant – the most senior ranked for non-officer in the police and the military.

The Talinos are likened to the Espinos in Pangasinan. They have the political machineries and wherewithal to knockout their opponents come election time.

But according to Candari, comes 2019 the electoral battle field would be exciting as former Mlang Mayor Lito Piñol, the present vice mayor and younger brother of the Secretary (bitter rivals of the Talinos for the governorship), would be duking it out with Roger and outgoing Second District ‘s Congresswoman Nancy Catamco.

“So it would be a threesome, er, three cornered fight in the province,” I quipped as I sipped my Coffee Americano and bit my tuna sandwich which were half the price compared if I went to Starbucks.
Ain't Starbucks in Kidapawan City only cheap Star Apples or Caimito in Tagalog, Luvin told me when I told him we go there.

Can Lito Piñol clash tit-for-tat versus the financial chest of Roger? I asked Luvin.

“Ya, Lito got the wherewithal of hundreds of millions of pesos what with his booming banana and palm oil businesses too,” Candari, a former leader of Duterte for President’s movement, retorted.

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)