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Philippine presidential palace says blast not bomb
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-20 14:07 An explosion on the grounds of
the Philippine presidential palace on Monday was probably caused by chemicals in
a trash bin set off by a lit cigarette, not a bomb, the head of security told
reporters.
"Nobody was injured," press undersecretary Isabel de Leon told reporters,
adding President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was inside the palace at the time.
The army tightened security on Sunday after finding a bomb in its top
military academy, one of the alleged targets of a plot to overthrow and possibly
kill Arroyo, who survived an impeachment attempt last year over allegations of
vote-rigging and graft.
Witnesses said the ground shook and a green rubber trash bin was shredded by
the blast, which brought government workers from their offices.
"There are no indications of an explosive. We suspect that some chemicals
have been compacted in the garbage can," Delfin Bangit, head of the Presidential
Security Group, told reporters.
"It may have been triggered by something like a cigarette butt."
In Manila, police were already on maximum alert over the plot and
expectations of large protests planned for February 24, the day before the
country marks the 20th anniversary of the "people power" revolt that ousted
Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
Last week, Reuters reported the plot involved a mass escape of mutineers
originally set for January, hostage-taking at last weekend's gathering of
military commanders, occupying army camps and removing Arroyo.
On Sunday, the commander of the police's elite force denied rumours his men
were planning to storm the main police camp in Manila and hold commanders
hostage as part of the plot.
Talk of a plot by some elements of the military has been growing since the
escape from an army camp in January of four alleged leaders of a bloodless,
one-day mutiny in 2003.
Rumours of unrest are common in the Philippines after a dozen coup attempts
in the past 20 years and popular uprisings backed by the army that toppled
Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada as president in 2001.
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