Bombing suspect freed for lack of evidence

COTABATO CITY  – The Department of Justice has freed the alleged mastermind in the deadly Oct. 10, 2005 bombing in Makilala, North Cotabato for lack of evidence linking him to the attack.

Eight people were killed while more than 30 others were injured in the bombing, the worst ever in the history of North Cotabato.

Prosecutor Al Calica, chief of the DOJ’s Special Anti-Terrorism Task Force, was quoted by Mindanao Cross, a weekly Catholic newspaper here, as saying that there was no strong evidence to prove that Kule Mamagong was involved in the bombing.

Mamagong, a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was released from the North Cotabato provincial jail Friday after Calica issued a resolution dismissing the charges against him.

Mamagong, who hails from Carmen, North Cotabato, was arrested early this year by combined police operatives of the Region 12 and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Calica said the suspect also presented documents showing that his real name is Oting Mariano, not Kule Mamagong as the police claimed.