Philippines Emergency State May be Ordered
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Reprinted from NewsMax.com
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Monday, Apr. 22, 2002GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines -- A state of emergency may be ordered for General Santos City in the southern Philippines, after a wave of bombings hit that predominantly Christian city in Muslim Mindanao, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Monday.
On Monday, a bomb exploded on a fishing boat outside the town as the president met with the mayor.
On Sunday, bombings killed at least 14 people outside a department store, injuring about 70 others.
The government is "offering a 5-million-peso reward (U.S. $98,000) for the apprehension of the perpetrators of the bombings in General Santos City," Arroyo said in a statement.
She also directed the military "to deploy additional forces to the areas affected to suppress the terrorist acts and lawless violence."
Arroyo also broached the possibility of declaring a state of emergency in "other places where the perpetrators (of the bombings) might have gone to hide."
"We may have to include the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and (North) Cotabato," she said.
The three provinces were carved out of the former Empire Province of Cotabato in the early 70s. Also part of the empire province was South Cotabato, whose capital then was General Santos City.
Predominantly Muslim Maguindanao became a part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 1989, while Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato, whose inhabitants are mostly Christians, remained part of Central Mindanao.
Authorities blamed the explosions on a group called the Indigenous People's Federal Army, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. Earlier in the year, this group had planted more than a dozen fake bombs in the area, saying they would use real bombs if their demands were not met. The group is seeking a federal state for tribal groups.
Threats of Attacks
"We have been receiving intelligence reports and threats of attacks from a group called the Federal Army," Chief Police Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot told the BBC.
A radio station said a male caller claimed that the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim rebel group, was responsible.
The BBC said local gangsters also could have been behind the bombs.
In the Sunday bombings, the first bomb, hidden in a motorized bicycle, blew up outside a department store. The second bomb, thrown from a moving car, exploded in a residential area, but no deaths were reported in that blast.
General Santos City has about 800,000 people.
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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