February 5th, 12:30am February 4th, 11:40pm Concept News CentralAll the news that matters

That was the moment we prayed President Rodrigo Duterte was mistaken with his information that a couple, initially believed to be Filipino Muslims, were responsible for the twin blasts that killed 21 two Sundays ago in Jolo, Sulu.

“If a Filipino couple was the culprit to the twin bombings, indeed, then we are now facing the next step towards the further radicalization

Oh, how that early, we would like to debunk the President’s claim. We also wished the Chief Executive came out soon to say he erred with his announcement.

But it was the President – he who has access to all information from the intelligence community, both local and international that we should take seriously everything he says.

This is no time for a joke for a matter as sensitive as the most recent Jolo blasts.

That the couple were suicide bombers makes the issue more troubling had they been Filipinos, indeed.

They would have been the first Filipino suicide bombers if the information was confirmed. We have seen terror acts committed by various groups, religious extremists included, but we have yet to see a Filipino wrap himself in TNT to get shredded to smithereens with one click.

It could not be part of Filipino culture, whether Christian or Muslim. Whether he is from Luzon, the Visayas or Mindanao.

We know of Muslims who have ran amuck in the past, reason for the Americans to craft a gun — the 45 — that stops even the bravest of the Filipino warriors who were never colonized by foreign powers.

The Muslims of Mindanao still carry that badge of bravery. They have fought foreign powers, mingled and dealt with them with diplomatic ease. But touch them not or all hell breaks loose.

Peace beckons to the people of Mindanao this time.

Its people are trooping to the poll precincts to cast their votes for the Bangsamoro Organic Law. It doesn’t matter whether they vote “Yes” or “No.” What matters is that they are charting their future on their own, free from the dictates of what they call imperial Manila and the influence of their brothers in Luzon and Visayas.

But peace in Mindanao still seems to be very elusive. The rebel groups, from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to the Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF) to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), kept spawning children.

They branch out to different beliefs, get radicalized by other thoughts, get funded by foreign powers with interests on this side of the world, flowering towards different directions of radicalism from the once secular MNLF, whose aim “simply” was to secede from Luzviminda and craft its own country of Mindanao.

But the Muslim rebellion has grown into religious activism. Its younger set are now embracing Salafi Jihadism. They are seeking world Muslim domination, junking the new world for the old. Fundamentalism is now the fuel and force that drive world terror. What happened in Jolo two Sundays ago was part of it.

But President Duterte’s revelation was most alarming.

He claimed the information was fed to him by intelligence from Indonesia, a largely Muslim country also beset with problems with extremists and terror cells with connection to the ISIL.

But if a Filipino couple was the culprit to the twin bombings, indeed, then we are now facing the next step towards the further radicalization of the local terror cells under the guidance of foreign religious and terror leaders with ISIL links.

The white van that set off a bomb near a Scout Ranger detachment in Lamitan in July last year now appears to be a test case for the Jolo incident.

It was another case of suicide bombing. The military initially feared it was a Filipino suicide bomber who drove the van past the Cafgu checkpoint before he set himself off to kill 11 people and injure others.

Thankfully, investigations showed the driver was a Moroccan. He was here to provide support and training to Abu Sayyaf members. He was married to one.

Foreign fighters have been coming and going into the country for years now. First, they were al Qaeda fighters, but when al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in May 2011 by US forces, international support and funding quickly shifted to the ISIS, including the Abu Sayyaf which have established ISIL caliphates in the hinterlands of Mindanao.

That it was found that he was a Moroccan was a temporary setback to the Abu Sayyaf. It had wanted to be known that the Lamitan blast was the handiwork of a Filipino suicide bomber. It was aimed to inspire its younger followers to take the path of what they sell as the ultimate religious sacrifice of blowing up one’s self for the ISIL cause.

Initial reports also pointed to the possibility of a suicide bomber or two as responsible to the blasts.

That is what Mr. Duterte is saying, too.

But the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) do not think so. Their statements came later, though.

The PNP is zeroing in on a certain Kamah, an Abu Sayyaf leader who had pledged allegiance to the ISIL.

Kamah leads the Ajang-Ajang group — children of Muslim fighters who have sacrificed their lives in previous battles, maybe with the MNLF, MILF or BIFF.

The Ajang-Ajang had long figured in the probe by the PNP. The police were firm on its lead that the twin blasts were not the handiwork of suicide bombers.

One of Kamah’s relatives had been killed in a gun battle that followed the raid on his lair. Kamah could be it.

But until the PNP or the AFP say with certainty and Kamah is either arrested or killed, we could not rest our fears against the possibility of terror taking the leap with more radicalized Filipinos getting craftier with their approach to sow more fear among us.

Or maybe until President Duterte makes himself clear that no, there were no suicide bombers and the PNP was right about its information on Kamah.

Or maybe until it gets confirmed that the suicide bombers were an Indonesian couple, indeed.

Because that will prove the ISIL has yet to brainwash our Muslim brothers and sisters to take the ultimate sacrifice.