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Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Bomb blast victims entitled to compensation: DOJ (2:30 p.m.)
By Benjamin B. Pulta
MANILA -- Fatalities in the latest terrorist bombing are entitled to compensation from the government, justice officials said Tuesday.
In a press briefing, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the family of the fatalities and the 100 other persons injured in the bomb blast are entitled to compensation of up to P 10,000 from the government.
"That is all the government can afford." Gonzalez pointed out. "They may apply for assistance at the regional prosecutors' office of the DOJ."
Under RA 7309, any person who is a victim of violent crimes is entitled to a maximum of P10,000 or the amount necessary to reimburse the claimant the expenses incurred for hospitalization, medical treatment, loss of wage, loss of support or other expenses directly related to the injury, whichever is lower.
This is without prejudice to the right of the claimant to seek other remedies under existing law.
A trio of bombs jolted the Manila financial district of Makati and two Mindanao cities Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding nearly 100 others, police said.
One of the bombings was on a bus along the busy Edsa highway just below a station for an elevated train and near the Intercontinental Hotel.
Police said three people were killed and at least 60 others injured as the bus exploded in flames and sent debris that hit two other buses.
The back of the bombed bus was destroyed in the 7:30 p.m. blast and all of the windows were blown out. The charred body of one passenger was still seated with a hand holding the seat railing.
A blast outside the Gaisano Mall in southern General Santos City about an hour earlier could be heard two kilometers away, witnesses said. Police said at least three people were killed and at least 30 others injured.
As of 8:30 Monday night, more than 30 people were being treated for shrapnel wounds in various hospitals in General Santos.
Another bomb, believed to have been made from a mortar shell, killed Rolly Lacsinto, 12, and injured six people when it went off almost simultaneously at a food stall beside Gate 1 of a bus terminal in Davao City, also in Mindanao, home to a restive Muslim minority, terror groups and criminal gangs.
It took police more than two hours to retrieve the shattered boy's body from inside an eatery where the bomb was believed to have been placed. (Sunnex) |
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