PAOCC, PNP, foil Zambo bombing attack

GOVERNMENT forces headed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) foiled an attempt by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) to detonate an improvised bomb in Zamboanga City with the arrest on Friday, February 17, 2023, of a suspected terrorist and the recovery of components for an improvised explosive device (IED).

PAOCC undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, a bemedaled retired police major general, in his initial report to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, said joint elements from the Zamboanga City Police Office under P/Col. Alexander Lorenzo, the Zamboanga City Mobile Force Coy and intelligence operatives with the assistance from the PAOCC, earlier managed to monitor the presence of ASG members in the city who planned to stage a bombing attack related to their plan to free 2 other terrorists serving time at the San Ramon Penal Colony.

Cruz said they discovered the extent of the plot after government forces tried to serve the warrant of arrest against one ‘Jomar Mahammad’ an identified ASG terrorist in the early morning of Friday at Sitio Sapa Dulian, Bgy. Kalabasa.

While Mahammad managed to elude arrest, the police collared his accomplice, ASG member, ‘Omar Mabanza,’ who was found in possession of the bomb components consisting of:

Time fuse, detonating cord, blasting cap, a tin can containing explosives, 14 pieces of scrap metal and a 9-volt battery, among others.

Cruz said intelligence operatives had earlier monitored the arrival of the ASG in Bgy. Kalabasa for a bombing mission.

However, with the arrest of Mabanza, it was learned that the purpose of the bombing is to divert government attention while other ASG members attack the San Ramon Penal Colony in a bid to free two other terrorists, namely, Abu Sari and Sahid Alip.

“The operation thwarted the mission of the ASG to detonate a bomb in Zamboanga city that was supposed to be a diversion for another group of ASG to rescue high profile inmates identified as Abu Sari and Sahid Alip who are serving prison in San Ramon Penal Colony,” Cruz informed Bersamin.

The ASG has been designated as an international terrorist organization by the UN Security Council and by the Philippine Anti-Terrorism Council under Resolution No. 13 series of 2020, reinforced by Resolution No. 32 series of 2022.

The disruption of the ASG bombing in Zamboanga City is the second accomplishment of note by the PAOCC in less than a week since Cruz assumed the post as its executive director.

Last February 13, 2023, the PAOCC coordinated with the PNP for the arrest of Edward ‘Don Edong’ Diokno, a racehorse owner who has been masquerading as an “undersecretary” at the office of Bersamin and at the Office of the President (OP) in order to dupe people into giving him millions of pesos in exchange for bogus Palace appointments and lucrative government contracts (see Pinoy Exposé, February 14, 2023).