RP seen rebounding from makati blasts<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuter): A grenade attack in the Philippines' main
\nbusiness area has intensified security fears and revived memories
\nof past mayhem but the economy is robust enough to shrug it off,
\nanalysts said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Police say the attack, which wounded four people and damaged
\nthe local headquarters of both Shell and Citibank, was probably a
\nbank raid that went awry.<\/p>\n
"Our investigation showed it was an attempted robbery,"
\nGeneral Job Mayo, Manila's top policeman, said in a radio
\ninterview.<\/p>\n
He said police believed the gunmen, armed with grenade
\nlaunchers and M-16 assault rifles, had opened fire to cover their
\nescape after bank guards thwarted a planned robbery.<\/p>\n
At least four grenade blasts resounded through the bustling
\nMakati business district at Wednesday lunchtime, pushing down
\nboth the stock index and the Philippine peso.<\/p>\n
The markets had largely recovered 24 hours after the attack,
\nwith the stock index closing 9.68 points lower at 2,933, well off
\nits day low of 2,913. Brokers said foreign buyers had led the
\nrecovery.<\/p>\n
Aggressive Central Bank intervention, including a sharp hike
\nin overnight interest rates, helped the peso recover to 26.13 to
\nthe dollar by mid-trade yesterday from its low of 26.225 on
\nWednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Mayo's remarks contradicted comments by some politicians and
\nin the media that the attack was the work of leftists angry at a
\nrecent oil price increase.<\/p>\n
Manila flatly denied another suggestion that government agents
\nthemselves staged the attack to justify passage of a
\ncontroversial anti-terrorism law pending before parliament.<\/p>\n
Business leaders said who was responsible was of less concern
\nto foreign investors than the fact that the attack could happen
\nat all in the country's main commercial area in broad daylight.<\/p>\n
"It's bad that this can happen in Makati," said Henry
\nSchumacher, head of the European Chamber of Commerce of the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
"That someone is running loose with military arms in the
\ncorporate district of Manila Inc, that's what bothers me,"
\nSchumacher said in an interview with Reuters.<\/p>\n
Urging the government to take clear action to address the law
\nand order issue, Schumacher said the Philippines had been taking
\npains in recent years to attract foreign investment but this was
\nthreatened by incidents such as Wednesday's.<\/p>\n
Financial analysts said the economy was now strong enough to
\nrebound from the attack.<\/p>\n
"The Philippine economy of today is significantly different
\nfrom that of 1983 when the assassination of one politician can
\nblow the house of cards down ... The economy has grown, developed
\nand deepened," Noel Reyes, vice president for research of
\nDharmala Securities, said in a report.<\/p>\n
The 1983 assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino
\nushered in a long period of political turmoil that left the
\neconomy in tumble.<\/p>",
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