COTABATO CITY ,Philippines – Suspected Moro rebels have blasted a powerful improvised explosive in a banana plantation in Tulunan, North Cotabato in what could be an attempt to force the company to shell out “protection money,” authorities said yesterday.
No one was reported killed or wounded in the bombing of a secluded portion of the vast Cavendish banana farm of the RNF Industry in Barangay Basak, Tulunan town, but the explosion triggered panic among the workers.
Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, North Cotabato police director, said investigators are now trying to determine the group behind the attack.
Investigators are also not discounting the possibility that the bombing was meant to intimidate about 60 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who surrendered and pledged allegiance to the Philippine flag last week and now work as security guards or workers at the banana plantation.
Col. Leopoldo Galon, spokesman of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the explosive was fashioned from live mortar rounds rigged with a battery-operated blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone.
The MILF rebels who surrendered last week got assurance of rehabilitation support from the military and Tulunan Mayor Lanie Candolada.
A group of MILF rebels attacked the same banana plantation last Nov. 27 and set a backhoe on fire. –John Unson The Philippine Star
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
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