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January 3, 2001, Sun Star Cebu, Editorial, Cebu: Independent investigation,

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January 3, 2001, Sun Star Cebu, Editorial, Cebu: Independent investigation,

 



Three days after the unprecedented violence in the country, the police still have to come up with a believable theory on the bombings as well as the suspects who can be accepted as the culprits.

Worse, the administration still has to convince the public it was not the work of diabolic people in the Estrada government.

With all the suspicions hanging in the air, the suggestion for an independent commission to investigate the bombings is well taken.

'God, what is happening to this country'

(Reprinted from the Jan. 1 issue of Sun.Star, for those who failed to read the item because of dizzying holiday activities-Editor)

Saturday's bomb explosions in Metro Manila, set off almost simultaneously, were not just intended to scare. They were meant to kill people and indeed 14 were killed and some 100 others injured.

That made them different from similar explosions in the past. The mock ambush on a government official that preceded the declaration of martial law in 1972 was just that, not for real. Last Saturday's was.

The timing enlarged the enormity of the acts. It came on the first day of three-day New Year holiday, when people were getting set to bid the old year good-by and welcome the new year.

Who could have done the dastardly deeds? What evil agenda prompted them?

Even as they were collecting the bodies and rushing the wounded to various hospitals, speculations were rife on the motive of the bombers.

Was it the work of leftists and communists?

Did the rightists do it? Perhaps some elements in the military who had access to sophisticated and deadly explosives?

How about the beleaguered President who, trapped in the impeachment trial, could have inspired the incidents to distract the public, if not derail the process?

President Estrada himself condemned the bombings but with his credibility stretched to its thinnest in his political career, not a few people doubted the involvement of his administration or his concern for the casualties.

Even if he truly did not have any hand in it and some twisted zealot of his administration did, what kind of President do we have that can't control his people?

Or, if the attacks were made by enemies of the administration, that would bring into bold relief the weakness of the presidency. That would mean that those who want him out must think he is so vulnerable and so easy a target that a group could explode those killer bombs and get away with it.

Who would benefit most from the explosions? That is what some pundits advise people to consider in looking for the culprits.

The advise may not be as useful as it sounds, for one can find the motive in almost all the key players in the political conflict gripping the country.

The President has made the usual order to catch the criminals.

The criminals, whoever they are and whatever their motive, are sick in the head.

As to the violence that adds a horrifying dimension to the plague in this troubled land, one remembers what a vice president said after an assassination attempt, "God, what is happening to this country?"

Indeed, what the heck is happening?

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stevenwarran

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on Dec 21, 12