The killing of four military intelligence officers in Sulu last month disrupted the intelligence efforts in the province. Local terrorists took advantage of this disruption to carry out the twin bombings in Jolo on Monday.

Gen. Gilbert Gapay, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the perpetrators of the suicide bombings on Monday were actually the ones being pursued by the slain Army intelligence operatives led by Maj. Marvin Indammog on July 29.

Indammog, along with three other Army intelligence operatives, were gunned down by the local police near the Jolo Police Station over an alleged lack of coordination and misunderstanding between the two local forces.

“Aside from missing the opportunity of capturing these two suicide bombers it has caused disruption in our intelligence operations, a disruption in our intelligence coverage for these suicide bombers and activities of Abu Sayyaf in Jolo and in other parts of Sulu,” said Gapay.

“Somehow, this led to this incident and the bombers, the terrorists saw the opportunity there to really execute their planned bombing that inflicted casualties not only against security forces but against the civilians in Jolo,” he added.

Gapay also expressed his frustration anew over the slow progress of the case since no charges have been filed yet against the Sulu policemen.

“We (were) so close to capturing and neutralizing them (suicide bombers) during that operation. That’s why, there should be swift dispensation of justice here so that it could prevent, preclude anymore speculation as to the motive of the incident so we are just asking and requesting that immediate charges should be filed against the perpetrators,” said Gapay.

Some military officials said that some of the local policemen in Jolo are in cahoots with the local terror groups, particularly the Abu Sayyaf Group. This led to speculation that the death of the four military intelligence operatives was also a handiwork of the ASG operating in the province.

While saying that it is a speculation, Gapay said that they are also looking into the possibility that some local policemen might be in cahoots with the ASG.

“It is not a remote possibility and that is one of the things we really want to find out because as I have said, this is a unique incident. In the past, our joint operations with the local police (were) okay, even the intelligence operations at that and we have neutralized so many terrorists in Jolo, Sulu, Basilan and other parts of Mindanao,” said Gapay.