Philippine military chief Angelo Reyes Tuesday described as "very disturbing" allegations by a public anti-crime group that a military official was behind a lethal spate of bombings in Manila over the weekend.
The Manila-based 'Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption', said earlier this week that an informant in the southern island of Mindanao was willing to testify that a military official had planned the bomb attacks that killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100 others.
Reyes said the claims of the so-called informant were "a very disturbing allegation" and challenged the group to come out with all the details at once instead of releasing information on a piecemeal basis.
"They should stop the slow motion, suspended animation type of revelations. If they have something to say and have information, they should reveal them immediately," Reyes said.
He added that the military was following up its own leads on the bombings but would not give any details.
A high-ranking source within the military said their information indicated that a joint band of communist insurgents and Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas were behind the blasts but that the bombers had already fled the city.
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado on Tuesday warned against excessive speculation on the perpetrators.
"Let's not make a theory, then look for evidence to support the theory. Let us just wait for results of the investigation and deduce our conclusions from it," he said.
Opposition groups have linked the blasts to the continuing corruption trial of President Joseph Estrada in the Senate, saying that the explosions may have been intended to divert attention from the hearing.
The government in turn has said the bombings may have been carried out to put pressure on Estrada to resign, or could be part of a campaign by communist insurgents or Muslim separatists.
Presidential spokesman Mike Toledo said that they would welcome any leads in the investigation but added: "let us just hope all leads ... are really credible or are (from) really legitimate witnesses."
"There have been a lot of pranksters who instead ... only confuse things," he said.
The head of Manila police, Director General Edgardo Aglipay said "I am very willing to personally go to Mindanao to get (the informant's) statements and compare if we have the same information."
Aglipay said he would bring other investigators with him and try to compare the informant's version with the physical evidence left behind to see if it was accurate -- MANILA (AFP)
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