Explosion heightens Manila plot alert

An explosion in the grounds of the Philippine presidential palace yesterday heightened tensions in Manila just 48 hours after a bomb was discovered in a top military academy.

The head of the palace's security said the blast was probably caused by chemicals in a trash bin set off by a cigarette, not a bomb.

"Nobody was injured," press undersecretary Isabel de Leon said, adding that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was inside the palace at the time.

Witnesses said 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," said Delfin Bangit, head of the Presidential Security Group.

"It may have been triggered by something like a cigarette butt."

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 President Arroyo, who survived an impeachment attempt last year over allegations of vote-rigging and graft.

Police in Manila were already on maximum alert over the plot and expectations of large protests planned for Friday, the day before the country marks the 20th anniversary of the "people power" revolt that ousted dictator 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 President 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.

- REUTERS