Airport bomb plotters charged

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Department of Justice today filed illegal possession of incendiary devices against three people who plotted to bomb four targets including the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Chinese Embassy.

This after Assistant State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes found probable cause to charge alleged United States Armed Forces in The Far East members Grandeur Pepito Guerero, Emmanuel San Pedro, and Sonny Yohanon in court for violation of Presidential Decree No. 1866 as amended by Republic Act 9516.

"Obviously, the act of each of the respondents is in furtherance of a common design; hence all of them should be equally held liable for possession of the subject improvised incendiary device," read the resolution, which was approved by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano.

As for the claim that the three plotted the attack in NAIA Terminal 3, as well as the Chinese Embassy and the DMCI building, Reyes said there was no proof that the three respondents planned to sow terror and destabilize the Philippine government.

On September 1, operatives from the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) swooped down Bay 25 of the NAIA Terminal 3 after they received an intelligence report of a plot to bomb the international airport.

The NBI said the group planned to detonate explosives at the comfort room of the NAIA Terminal 3 parking area.

The three suspects had also planned to bomb the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City and the Chinese Embassy and the DMCI building in Makati City.