3 killed in Metro bus bombing

Three passengers were killed and at least 19 others wounded when a bomb exploded inside a Novaliches-bound bus on EDSA, in Barangay Apolonio Samson, Quezon City at about 10:15 last night, initial police reports said.

The head and hands of one of the three fatalities, two of whom had no identification papers of any kind, were blown away by the explosion.

The absence of identification papers initially led authorities to suspect that the two could have been the perpetrators.

Police said the blast ripped through the rear portion of the Golden Hi-way bus, with license plate PXD-989, which was packed with an estimated 60 passengers.

Police bomb experts could not immediately determine the type of the bomb used, said Senior Superintendent Raul Medina of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

However, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the bomb was similar to the one used in the Dec. 30, 2000 bombing.

Philippine National Police Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said statements declaring that the bomb was similar to the December 30, 2000 explosion were speculative.

Of the wounded, 13 were rushed to the East Avenue Medical Center, two to the Manila Central University Hospital in Caloocan City and four to the Quezon City General Hospital.

Police have yet to establish the identities of the fatalities, who bore the brunt of the explosion.

Reporters on site said the bus was severely damaged and personal belongings of passengers, such as bags and a doll, were scattered in the vicinity of the explosion.

Golez, one of the first government officials to rush to the scene, said President Arroyo has been informed of the bombing and that the police have been placed on heightened alert.

Internal security measures have also been tightened, he said.

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte said President Arroyo is convening an "assessment meeting" today in Malacañang.

Belmonte added that immediately after the meeting, to be attended by Cabinet members and heads of of the Metro Manila local governments, officials will implement necessary steps at the local level.

Police were investigating the possibility that the bomb exploded prematurely.

Earlier in the day, the peso lost 31 centavos, dropping to a 14-month low of 53.29 to the dollar, and fear gripped residents yesterday as a grenade exploded in Makati and bomb threats flooded Metro Manila.

Police and commercial establishments all over the metropolis intensified security measures as cell phone text messages spread, warning people against going to public places in the next 72 hours. Malacañang said the text warnings were a hoax.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit also placed all government hospitals under "blue" alert in readiness for possible bomb attacks in the metro-polis.

The British rock band Oasis cancelled its Manila concert next week while Australia and Britain warned their citizens to exercise extreme caution when visiting the Philippines.

Only 12 hours after two deadly bombings killed at least seven people and wounded 143 others in Zamboanga, a grenade exploded atop the flyover connecting Ayala Avenue to EDSA in Makati City shortly after midnight Thursday.

Nestor de la Peña, a Marikina businessman, told the Makati police that someone in a Honda City sedan apparently lobbed the grenade at the Toyota Hi-Ace he was driving at around 12:15 a.m.

Makati City police director Superintendent Jovito Gutierrez said the police bomb squad that rushed to the area found fragments of an MK-2 fragmentation grenade on the flyover.

The bomb experts also found another grenade, with its safety pin and lever detached, at the base of the flyover near McKinley Road, which leads to the upscale Forbes Park subdivision.

Gutierrez, himself a bomb disposal expert, said evidence and circumstances indicated that the grenade was not planted but was lobbed at De la Peña’s vehicle.

He said the grenade found near McKinley Road might have been thrown by the same group from the flyover but did not explode because it was in a "hang-fire" state. The bomb squad surrounded the grenade with sandbags and old tires and detonated it.

At around 8 a.m., people attending Mass at the Black Nazarene minor basilica in Quiapo, Manila were told to evacuate the church after alert citizens noticed a plastic bag that was left unattended on one of the pews, said Chief Inspector Gerry Agunod, Western Police District (WPD) spokesman.

But the bomb squad discovered that the bag merely contained clothing, leftover food and a folded piece of cardboard and belonged to a homeless 70-year-old woman.

At 9:50 a.m., the WPD bomb squad again received a call for assistance from librarian Edith Gochingco of the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Manila regional trial court.

According to Gochingco, she received a call from a man with a deep voice who said, "May bomba diyan, sasabog (There’s a bomb there about to explode)." But the squad found no bomb after they swept the building.

"Perhaps it helped that court employees held a rally at Mendiola. There were fewer people to evacuate at the time," Agunod said.

At about lunch time, the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) also received a call saying that a bomb would explode inside their building on P Campa street in Sampaloc, Manila. But a sweep of the building yielded no bomb.

At around 11:20 a.m., the administrators of the Rufino Tower at the corner of Rufino street and Ayala Avenue also in Makati City received a bomb threat but the Makati City bomb squad found no bomb after a building sweep.

The Rufino Tower houses the Czech embassy on the 30th floor and the French embassy on the 34th floor.

More than two hours later, at 1:55 p.m., Gwen Velez, a secretary at the Pag-IBIG Fund branch on East Avenue in Quezon City, received a telephone call from a man who said: "Isang oras na lang sasabog na ang building ninyo (Only one hour more before your building explodes)."

But Central Police District (CPD) bomb expert Senior Police Officer 1 Noel Velasquez said a sweep of the Pag-IBIG building yielded no bomb.

At around 6 p.m., alert passengers of the Metro Rail Transit informed the guards at the GMA-Kamuning station in Quezon City that there was an unattended bag at the train landing.

But CPD bomb squad member Senior Police Officer 1 Joselito Fernandez said the bag contained only computer parts and may have been left behind by one of the passengers.

Checkpoints in Metro Manila

President Arroyo convened the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security at Malacañang last night. She will meet with Metro Manila mayors on Monday to discuss security measures in the capital.

Metro Manila lacks up to 15,200 police personnel, so the national police is tapping security guards for assistance. In Mindanao, Muslim leaders will be tapped for intelligence gathering. More bomb-sniffing dogs will also be deployed at airports and seaports.

In the wake of the bomb scare, police and commercial establishments all over Metro Manila have intensified security measures.

Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco ordered random checkpoints in strategic areas in the metropolis.

"The public should bear with us. We are randomly setting up checkpoints in areas we deem it necessary, not for any purpose but their safety," he said.

Velasco emphasized that policemen manning such mobile checkpoints should remember the standing "Pulis Magalang," or courteous policeman, policy.

"We would like to assure the public that our policemen in the NCRPO are doing their best to avoid any untoward incident similar to the blasts in Zamboanga City," Velasco said.

He encouraged the public to be alert and immediately report any suspicious-looking people or mysterious packages in their areas.

In Quezon City, CPD director Superintendent Napoleon Castro ordered the deployment of 85 percent of policemen to shopping malls, transport terminals and government offices in the city.

"(There will be) more police visibility in the city to ensure peace and order," Castro said.

In Manila, WPD director Pedro Bulaong ordered all 3,000 policemen to cancel their leaves and extend their normal duty hours to 12 hours. He also ordered increased security measures in vital installations, like the US Embassy, the Light Rail Transit and the Pandacan oil depots.

"I reiterate my order to my station commanders to be on heightened alert. We should be on our toes 24 hours a day. I have also maximized the deployment of personnel, especially in malls and vital installations. We’re not relaxing," Bulaong said.

In Makati City, Gutierrez called for a command conference to discuss security measures, like random vehicle inspections, and placed the city’s K-9 unit on 24-hour alert.

In Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela (Camanava) area, Northern Police District director Senior Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr. has intensified its intelligence gathering and has begun looking for terrorists suspected of hiding in the area. - With Marichu Villanueva, Mike Frialde, Katherine Adraneda, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rainier Allan Ronda, Jerry Botial, Ann Bernadette Corvera