Sulu Guv Hit By Black Propaganda

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 8, 2010) – The Philippine National Police denied Monday a published report linking Sulu governor Sakur Tan to a grenade explosion last year at a carnival in the province’s Luuk town.

The September grenade attack killed three 3 people and wounded several others.

Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, of the Sulu Provincial Police Office, said the attack was triggered by a business rivalry between two amusement game operators at the carnival.

“Doon sa peryahan ay mayroon mga magka-kumpetensya sa amusement games, siyempre malaki ang kita nuong nasa kabila, yun sa kabila mahina so pumunta yun sa kabila doon at hinulog nila, hinagis ang granada sa mga tao doon na nanunuod.”

“Yun pangyayari eh talagang sinadya, business rivalry ito. Mayroon na tayong isang suspek pero at-large, pero na-file na natin yun case. Pinaghahanap na rin natin ang suspek,” Baanan said.

A local newspaper, the Daily Zamboanga Times, on Monday published the report. It said at least 6 people filed the case against Tan, a known philanthropist and a religious man. The newspaper did not get either the side of Tan or the Philippine National Police about the incident.

Tan’s supporters branded the report as black propaganda and politically motivated. “Who else would do that but those people with evil motives, those who cannot speak about their accomplishments because they have done nothing to improve the lives of the Tausugs or bring peace and development to Sulu just as what Governor Sakur Tan brought us since winning by a landslide the 2007 elections,” one supporter, Hajji Usman, said.

He said Tan’s political foes have been pestering the governor with incredible accusations and various lies. (Mindanao Examiner)