Friday, December 12, 2014

Police files charges on bus blast suspect



CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: Police have filed multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder charges against the suspect in the bombing of an RTMI bus the other day, newest information reaching Philippine Preview said.

The bus explosion at the Central Mindanao University (CMU) entrance in Maramag, Bukidnon, Dec.9, killed 10 persons and injured 42.

Bukidnon Provincial Police Chief Glenn dela Torre said their suspect is Macmod Manibpil, alias “Mang,” said to be one of the “BIFF new recruits on test mission.”

Dela Torre said Manibpil was identified by the RTMI driver of bus 2640 who said he saw the suspect, as well as other survivors who also testified they got a closer look of the alleged perpetrator.

Dela Torre added Manibpil boarded in Brgy. Barandias in Pangantucan and disembarked from the bus a few meters away from the CMU bus stop minutes before the explosion.

He added that the driver saw the suspect “getting something from a sako bag” placed in the overhead baggage rack while a bottle of mineral water fell from the bag when Manibpil opened it.

Police investigators earlier said that an IED, composed of an 81-millimeter mortar, and a cellular phone, which acted as the bomb’s trigger device, was used in the bombing, placed in a sack.

Manibpil, dela Torre said, presently is a fugitive, as he was one of the 49 prisoners who escaped when MILF rebels broke them out of a detention facility in Kidapawan City in 2007.

Manibpil’s name also came out as the one responsible for the Nov. 6 bombing of another RTMI bus, which injured four passengers.