1972 Manila bombings

The 1972 Manila bombings were a series of "about twenty explosions in Metro Manila in the months after the Plaza Miranda bombing and immediately preceding Ferdinand Marcos' proclamation of Martial Law". The came on March 15, 1972, and the last took place on September 11, 1972 - twelve days before martial law was announced on September 23.

The Marcos administration officially attributed the explosions to communist "urban guerillas", and Marcos included them in the list of "inciting events" that served as rationalizations for martial law. Marcos' political opposition questioned the attribution of the explosions to the communists, noting that the only suspects caught in connection to the explosions were linked to the Philippine Constabulary.

Bombing sites included the Palace Theater and Joe's Department Store on Carriedo Street, both in Manila; the offices of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Filipinas Orient Airways, and Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (PhilamLife); the Cubao branch of the Philippine Trust Company (now known as PhilTrust Bank); the Senate Publication Division and the Philippine Sugar Institute in Quezon City, and the South Vietnamese embassy. The incident in the Carriedo shopping mall killed one woman and injured about 40, the only incident involving casualties.

Explosion incidents

The sites of the bombings included the Palace Theater and Joe's Department Store on Carriedo Street, both in the City of Manila; the offices of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Filipinas Orient Airways, and Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (PhilamLife); the Cubao branch of the Philippine Trust Company (now known as PhilTrust Bank); the Senate Publication Division and the Philippine Sugar Institute in Quezon City, and the South Vietnamese embassy.

However, only one of these incidents - the one in the Carriedo shopping mall - went beyond damage to property; one woman was killed and about 40 persons were injured.

Suspects

Communist guerillas

The Marcos regime officially attributed the explosions communist "urban guerillas", referring to the earliest recruits of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which had split from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas about five years before.

Government agents

Opposition senator Ninoy Aquino noted with suspicion that with the Carriedo incident as the only exception, "the bombings had all been timed for maximum publicity and nothing more." He also noted that "one of the two arrested bombing suspects was a PC (Philippine Constabulary, now the Philippine National Police) sergeant who was employed at the Firearms and Explosive Section of the PC."