Philippine Bombing Suspects Arrested
Philippine soldiers swooped on a Muslim community in Manila suburb early on Thursday and arrested a group of residents in connection with weekend bomb attacks which killed 22 people in the capital, officials said.
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado told Reuters the residents were being interrogated but did not give the exact number of people arrested.
Manila radio station dzMM said 17 were rounded up in the raid by military intelligence agents.
The bombings heightened tension in a country racked by political turmoil since late last year after President Joseph Estrada was accused of taking hefty bribes from illegal gambling syndicates.
Estrada is being tried on corruption and bribery charges by a Senate impeachment court and could be removed from office if found guilty.
More than 120 people were wounded in the five bomb explosions in a crowded elevated train, a bus terminal, a warehouse at the Manila international airport, a park near the United States embassy and outside a luxury hotel.
Images of horribly wounded amputees and burn victims are rallying ordinary Filipinos who, amid warnings of new violence, are pitching in to ease the suffering of some of the victims.
Doctors say scores of private citizens have offered cash, toys, food and other gifts. Many have even offered to adopt Emmanuel, said John Lim, the boy's surgeon.
Alaine Pascua, of the People's Movement Against Poverty, said his organization has received many offers to help the victims. Most of them ask about Emmanuel.
"Essentially, he's sparking a drive for funding," said Pascua. The group plans to launch on Friday a citywide collection, asking the mostly poor residents to donate one peso (two cents) each for the victims.
The government pledged to pay all medical expenses for the victims and give them $240 each, a notable sum in a country with a minimum wage of $4.50 a day.
The horrific images are also fueling a nationwide crossfire of anger and blame hitting virtually every group with money, political power or weapons.
Nobody has claimed the attacks which came as the nation celebrated a New Year's holiday already dampened by the tension of President Joseph Estrada's impeachment trial on corruption charges.
Opposition groups accuse Estrada allies of planning the attacks as a pretext to declare martial law and halt his impeachment trial. The government has fingered opposition politicians or communist rebels clamoring for Estrada's downfall. Others point to numerous disgruntled factions among the Philippine police and military.
Estrada, a former action film star, is under intensifying fire at his impeachment trial, accused of moving millions of dollars in accounts under a false name.
One victim named Emmanuel, who doctors say may be three years old, lost his leg in the bomb that killed at least 13 and injured more than 60 on a downtown commuter train, said his pediatrician.
He recovered consciousness Tuesday and feebly spoke ia central Philippine dialect.
"The first thing he did was to ask for his leg back," said Dr. Dan Lim. Lim said he has repeated the request regularly and says little else.
Lim said he fears the parents may be among the tersely worded entries on Saturday's admissions list. The list reads in part: "Girl X — Dead on Scene. Unidentified Woman — Dead on Arrival."
Further down on the list reads: "Paulino Umalla, 36, — Operating Room."
Umalla, an impoverished northern rice farmer, said he took his wife and three preschool children to Manila to welcome the new year with his brother-in-law.
"I was just yelling for help because my leg was so bad," Umalla said, comforting his 2½-year-old daughter as his family sprawled on bare mattresses at the hospital Charity Ward — the room for the poorest.