Firecracker blast sparks fear in Benguet; 2 hospitalized

A powerful firecracker explosion at a marketplace in La Trinidad, Benguet caused the hospitalization of two people and sparked fear among locals that a bomb attack had been launched on the day of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's visit to the province. Senior Superintendent Moro Lazo, Benguet police director, however, allayed fears of a threat to the President's life and assured that she was in safe hands. The incident, he said, was an accident. Mrs Arroyo was at Bontoc, Mt. Province - some 200 kilometers or about five hours away by land - at about the time the incident occured along the Trading Post in Pico, La Trinidad. She was scheduled to visit the Bontoc State University later in the afternoon in Buguias town to send off Manila-bound trucks loaded with vegetables. GMA News reported that the university is about 700 meters away from the explosion site. Initial investigation showed that a La Trinidad resident identified as Milyon Bagisbis, 27, was roasting a pig's head when he unwittingly ignited a stack of whistlebombs and kwitis (rocket pyrotechnics). He sustained injuries during the incident while Kapangan town resident Helen Caludio, 49, was hospitalized due to "suffocation." Both Caludio and Bagisbis were rushed to the Baguio General Hospital in La Trinidad. Police officials in the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) deployed additional forces in key areas in the province following the incident. The President has been staying at Abra's tourist city of Baguio, where she has been brushing up on her golf and has taken relatively more time off her regular office schedule. In Bontoc, Mrs Arroyo awarded about 80 land titles to indigenous folk and turned over an ambulance to the provincial health office. She also inspected the Mt. Data-Bontoc Road at the Halsema Highway, a major transport artery in the Cordilleras.-GMANews.TV