‘Put blast suspects under DSWD care’

COTABATO CITY — The local religious sector has called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to place under its custody the five suspects, all minors, in last Wednesday’s bombing of a fiesta concert here.

Concerned groups are worried that the suspects could become hardened criminals if they are not given the proper psychological guidance while under detention.

Senior Superintendent Sangacala Dampac, city police chief, said witnesses have pointed to one of the five minors as the one who hurled the grenade into the crowd watching the concert at the compound of the St. Joseph Parish Church at Notre Dame Village here.

The blast killed seven people and injured 124 others, half of them still confined in hospitals. — John Unson