MANILA - A bomb made from high-grade explosives—and likely set off by terrorists—caused the blast that killed at least nine people and wounded more than 100 others at a mall in Makati, officials said yesterday.
“It’s a bomb, but as to what kind of bomb, we are still trying to determine,” Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said. “More likely it’s a terrorist attack—but what terrorist group? We have no indicator.”
Razon also said they are still verifying reports that the Rajah Sulaiman Movement, a group of Filipino Christians who converted to Islam, claimed responsibility for the explosion.
According to reports last night, a man claiming to be RSM spokesman Ruben Omar Lavilla, alias Sheik Omar, sent a text message to ABS-CBN to say the group was behind Friday’s blast at the Glorietta 2 shopping mall in Makati City.
Lavilla, a former professor of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, also allegedly demanded the release of RSM founder Hilarion del Rosario Santos, alias Ahmed Santos, who was captured in 2005.
The RSM has been tagged as responsible for the Rizal Day bombings of an LRT train and a passenger bus in Manila in 2000 and the Valentine’s Day bombings in Davao City, General Santos City and Makati in 2004.
Military-issued?
Last Friday’s explosion ripped through three floors of the Glorietta 2 mall, hurling slabs of concrete, twisting steel reinforcements, and shattering glass panels. Earlier, police reports had said a fuel tank caused the blast.
Evidence collected from the mall indicate that the bomb “contained RDX, the main chemical component of C4,” the police said in a report to President Arroyo. In the Philippines, C4 explosive is used only by the military.
The report was delivered at a top-level security meeting between President Arroyo and her security advisers at the police headquarters in Manila.
Senior Supt. Bert Ferro, who heads the police bomb data center, said samples taken from the site lead him to “presume that those are of military ordnance components.”
Days ago, Razon ordered “maximum security coverage” at possible southern Philippine terror targets, such as critical infrastructure, malls, transport hubs, and religious shrines, following police intelligence reports of possible terror bombings after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
9 killed
Red Cross volunteers recovered the body of a man, the ninth fatality, buried under rubble inside the mall before dawn Saturday.
The Red Cross reported that at least one more person remained missing.
At a news conference, a journalist asked the President who would benefit from such an attack. Visibly irked, Arroyo replied: “It’s the terrorists. Let us ask the terrorists.”
Several opposition politicians and Arroyo critics had suggested the government may be responsible for the bombing, in a bid to divert attention from scandals plaguing her administration, over alleged overpriced projects and bribes to lawmakers to defeat an impeachment bid.
National Capital Region Police Chief Geary Barias said that President Arroyo authorized a P2 million reward for information on those responsible.
Councilor Jejomar Binay Jr. said the Makati City Government will offer a separate reward of P1 million for information on possible suspects, if police officially declare the bombing a terror attack.
‘Ominous’
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales stopped short of directly blaming the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, but noted that the group has aired appeals on the Internet for international support from jihadist groups.
“What is more ominous here is they may be planning a bigger attack,” Gonzales said on Vice President Noli de Castro’s weekly radio program yesterday. “They will first show a sample. That means that while the bomb yesterday already was powerful, it is still just a sample.”
Razon said he has ordered additional road checkpoints and deployed more officers to secure malls, airports and seaports, and bus terminals.
In Mandaue City in Cebu, policemen now roam inside a mall and security at the port area has been tightened.
City officials also appealed to the public to be more vigilant.
“I again remind the community to be vigilant and help the police locate suspicious persons and things,” Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said.
As head of the committee on police, fire and penology, Fortuna urged the intelligence community to work hard to preempt any terrorist move.
Port safety
Acting Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) Director Rodel Calungsud sent text messages to his men and ordered the city’s six station commanders to provide “more police visibility” around the city.
Station 1 commander Senior Insp. Siegfred Torribio, whose area includes Super Metro Mandaue, said his men and mall guards are now conducting joint patrols.
Meanwhile, port security, safety and environment manager Oscar Lopez said their security was already tight since Oct. 1, in preparation for the semestral break, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day and Christmas.
The Cebu Port Authority has five X-ray machines and seven walk-through machines to complement its manual security search.
Throughout Friday night, bomb experts sifted through blast debris trying to find clues as to what sort of bomb was used in the Glorietta 2 mall, which reopened for business yesterday.
P100M lost
Ayala Land, owner of the mall said, the explosion caused them about P100 million.
Officials and witnesses said the blast left an eight-meter-wide crater on the ground floor and blew a hole through the roof on the second floor.
The 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday it is “prepared to gather intelligence for the Philippine authorities if asked to do so,” spokesman Eid Kabalu said.
“We would like to help out if asked. This could help the military at least eliminate some groups from their list of suspects,” he said, adding that the offer was being made as a “sincere gesture” that could also revive stalled peace talks.
Reports said officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were helping Philippine police.
Police said Friday’s blast appeared to have originated at the mall’s ground-level loading dock for delivery vehicles, near the customer entrance.
Several months ago, authorities were alerted to an alleged terror plot to plant bombs in Manila’s business districts of Makati and Ortigas, a government counter-terrorism official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. (AP/AFP)/With OCP)
