Four blast suspects charged

Police filed yesterday charges of robbery with multiple homicide and multiple frustrated homicide against four of the six suspects in the Baclaran grenade lobbing incident that killed eight people.

Named in the charges filed with the Parañaque City Prosecutor's Office were Henry Evidor, Ramil Selvio, John de Guzman, and Bartolome Gaudines, who were all positively identified by a sales lady and a security guard of the shopping mall where the robbery took place on Palm Sunday.

"We proceeded with the filing of charges against the suspects, and are now looking for other gang members who may have escaped after the bombing," said Southern Police District (SPD) director Senior Superintendent Manuel Cabigon.

Witnesses failed to identify two others as part of the group which robbed the Majoline and Megatime jewelry stores at the ITM Shopping Center near the Light Railway Transit station in Baclaran. The two suspects -- Najer Amputan and Ariel Moreno -- are still under police detention.

Parañaque police chief Superintendent Roberto Rongavilla said several police teams have been dispatched to various points of Metro Manila and Southern Luzon to track down other members of a robbery gang said to be composed of Ilonggos and Bicolanos.

"Most of them are still out there but we have men hunting them down," Rongavilla said.

The other day, police probers said they were looking into the possibility that the heist was committed by the "Martilyo Gang," a group known for using hammers in breaking glass display cases when robbing jewelry stores and pawn shops.

Last Sunday, six armed men robbed a jewelry store at the second floor of the shopping center at around 4:40 p.m. and gunned down a security guard who tried to stop them.

They then lobbed a grenade to divert the attention of lawmen who pursued them as they stepped out of the shopping center. Eight people were killed, including security guard Arnel Cajandab, who was shot at the mall.

More than 30 people were hurt by the grenade blast as thousands of people were attending Palm Sunday Mass at the nearby Redemptorist Church. Most of those wounded by the blast were vendors and bystanders. Marine Sgt. Domingo Cabote and two responding Parañaque policemen, identified as PO2 Rick Macaraeg and PO1 Anthony Alising, also sustained shrapnel wounds.