Philippine Violence Rises; Armed Forces Go on Alert

Armed men shot and killed a police officer and four bombings rocked the capital before dawn today amid threats of another uprising against President Corazon Aquino’s government, officials said.

The 159,000-member Armed Forces of the Philippines was placed on maximum alert Friday after fugitive army Col. Gregorio Honasan, leader of right-wing rebels, announced a resumption of hostilities against Aquino.

Police said Capt. Raymundo Venus was riding his motorcycle home Saturday night with his daughter on back when two helmeted men on motorcycles shot him in the head at close range in suburban Quezon City.

Venus was hit twice and died instantly. His daughter was unharmed.

Following the killing, a spate of bombings hit a shopping mall in Quezon City, the RFM food manufacturing company in suburban Pasig, a police outpost about a mile from Aquino’s palace and the Department of Justice parking lot in the capital’s tourist district.

Police said the bombings between 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. today smashed windows and building walls. A security guard was injured at RFM, a company owned by the family of Trade Secretary Jose Concepcion.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings. Authorities said the “high-explosive” bombs were either hurled by people on foot or riding motorcycles or cars.

Concepcion, whose offices were bombed last week, said the latest attacks were not meant to “harm but to make the perpetrators know they are around.”

“If they think they can scare us we’d like to let them know we will continue doing our job,” said Justice Secretary Franklin Drillon. His office is prosecuting rebel soldiers.

Honasan, 41, led last December’s coup attempt in which 119 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded. He said last week that “tactical operations” would resume after his reconciliation offer was spurned.