From: an3892@anon.penet.fi
Newsgroups: soc.culture.filipino
Subject: New Year's Eve
Date: 2 Jan 93 04:28:21 GMT
Organization: Anonymous contact service
X-Anonymously-To: soc.culture.filipino


        MANILA, Philippines (UPI) -- At least 12 people were killed and nearly
800 injured Friday when Filipinos turned the capital into a holiday war
zone, firing guns into the air and exploding firecrackers in a bloody
tradition of welcoming the New Year, police and hospital sources said.
        The staccato of gunfire, exploding pyrotechnics and bamboo canons
pounded the air from midnight until dawn as residents in Asia's only
Christian nation celebrated the transition to 1993.
        Smoke blackened the sky and the smell of gunpowder was everywhere.
        Filipinos believe the noise from the explosions drive away evil
spirits from their homes.
        Police said a mother and her four children were burned to death when
fire razed their home in a squatter colony in suburban Malabon town.
        About 200 other shanties were gutted in the blaze believed triggered
by an exploding firecracker, said firefighter Bernard Cruz.
        He said the father was able to jump out of the window but suffered
third-degree burns.
        Elsewhere in the capital, three people were killed by stray bullets
and four others were stabbed to death in violence related to the New
Year revelry, police said.
        Hospital sources in Manila said 729 people were injured from
firecracker blasts and gunfire.
        ``Most of those injured were children, many with severed fingers,''
said Dr. Protacio Badjao, of the state-run Philipine General Hospital. 
``It was a bloody mess last night.''
        A surgeon at another hospital said he treated a seven-year-old boy
whose hand was blown off by a firecracker.
        ``We never learn,'' he said.
        In the southern city of Zamboanga, three people were seriously
injured in a grenade explosion and eight others were brought to
hospitals for firecracker injuries.
        Police said 24 people, mostly children, were injured in Zambales
province north of Manila from pyrotechnic blasts.
        Five children suffered wounds from glass shards when they exploded a
firecracker placed inside a bottle in Olongapo City west of the capital,
police said.
        Despite a high-profile campaign in the media against the firing of
guns by members of the armed forces, the call went unheeded in some
police and military camps.
        Authorities said a Marine corporal was arrested for firing his
firearm inside the Fort Bonifacio army headquarters in greater Manila.
        Police and military officials have warned those caught firing their
guns would be dismissed and prosecuted.
        Meanwhile, officials said there have been no reports of violations of
a cease-fire between government troops and communist guerrillas.
        The 48-hour truce declared for the New Year holidays ends at midnight
Friday.
        No violations were also reported during a similar truce on Christmas
day.

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