COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 11 August) — The former Local Governments Minister and spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said he is used to receiving death threats by phone or verbally but not at having a grenade lobbed on the roof of his family’s café which serves as temporary office of his political party and venue of his various meetings.
Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao also condemned the “grenade planting incident” at Cafe Mindanaw.
“In light of this, I have instructed the (city police) to thoroughly investigate the incident and leave no stone unturned until the perpetrator or perpetrators are brought to to justice.
“I’m immuned to (verbal or threats by phone). Usually the threat says they will kill me or bomb me. But this practice should not be normalized especially now that they have thrown a grenade in my café,” said lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, Minister of the Interior and Local Governments and spokesperson of the BARMM from early 2019 to December 2023,
The unexploded grenade was found on the roof of Café Mindanaw on Saturday morning while the staff was doing its regular weekly cleaning.
Sinarimbo asked authorities not to downlplay what happened but to investigate even if the grenade did not explode. “’You can just imagine, we have people here working, we were just lucky, the second pin of the grenade was not released or else it (would have been) disastrous. This should not be downplayed,” he said.
Sinarimbo said the café owned by his son is the temporary office of the Serbisyo Inklusibo-Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP). Sinarimbo is president of the SIAP Cotabatao City chapter and the Special Geogrphic Area in North Cotabato.
The SIAP is allied with other parties, including the BARMM Grand Coalition of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, the Bangsamoro People’s Party of former ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman. These parties have endorsed Tan to be the next Chief Minister. The Chief Minister is elected among the 80 members of the Parliament. May 12, 2025 is the first election of the Parliament, after a six-year transition period governed by Presidential appointees.
Sinarimbo was deputy secretary-general of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) until December 2023.
In a statement, the BGC called on “everyone to move forward and advocate for a peaceful elections in BARMM” and called on “all political parties to close ranks against all election-related violence.”
“We are open to dialogue with all parties and with law enforcement agencies to implement the President’s mandate for peaceful elections,” the BGC said.
Sinarimbo’s wife, Rosslaini Alonto took a swipe on what she said was deliberate and synchronized attacks online by trolls posting comments that the attempted bombing was a staged event.
She said the messages were posted simultaneously. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
