Villar assists blast victim's kin

Speaker Manuel Villar Jr. offered last night to shoulder the expenses for the burial of SM Megamall bombing victim Evan Calumba.

Villar visited the wake of Calumba in Quezon City to condole with his relatives.

He offered to foot the bill for the airlifting and burial of the victim and for the plane tickets of Calumba's four brothers who will accompany the remains to Agusan del Norte.

The 24-year-old Calumba, a janitor, was the sole breadwinner among seven brothers and sisters. His skull was shattered by the mall explosion.

Villar said terrorist attacks spare no one.

"It is unfortunate that innocent civilians who have nothing to do with whatever these terrorists are trying to pursue have to suffer because of these senseless acts of violence," he said.

The Speaker has in the past given similar financial aid to crime victims, including Baby Echegaray, who was raped by her own father Leo Echegaray, the first death convict to be executed after the reimposition of the death penalty.

In a related development, Rep. Ernesto Herrera (Lakas, Bohol) said the failure of the police and military to make arrests in the Megamall and Glorietta bombings means that these blasts were not the work of the "usual suspects."

He said if Muslim terrorists were behind the incidents, the casualty count would have been much higher.

"So we cannot discount the angle that this could be the work of some sectors in the military or the police who want to create a condition or a situation where the government would be forced to resort to emergency rule," he added. -