2 dead, 5 hurt in karaoke bar bomb blast

BAGUIO CITY — Two died and five others were seriously hurt after an improvised bomb was hurled inside a videoke bar and canteen in Tubao town, La Union the other night.

Ilocos police director Chief Supt. Arturo Lomibao identified the victim as Freddie Valdez, 31, and Romeo Estuez, 27, both from Tubao.

Five others who were hurt were rushed to the nearest hospital for immediate treatment. They are Eronio Panelo, 50; Edwin Panelo, 27, and Rudolfo Panelo, 17; all residents of Yunes East , Tubao and Reybert and Reinante Unyur.

A certain Joel, brother-in-law of the Panelo victims was arrested by police after the incident.

Lomibao said that police probers found out that the suspect hurled the improvised bomb after a misunderstanding with the Panelo victims over payment of beverages they consumed inside the bar.

The police director brushed off any connection of the blast with terrorism.

Meanwhile, a student was injured when a suspected mechanical exploding device exploded inside the men’s comfort room at a building of the Philippine College of Science and Technology (PCST) in Calasiao, Pangasinan, yesterday morning.

Police identified the wounded victim who was rushed to a hospital in nearby Dagupan City as Alfie Hernandez, 21, a 4th year college student of the said school. The explosion was heard as the more than 3,000 students of the school were taking their final examinations.

Police authorities led by P/Sr. Supt. Arturo Cacdac, Jr., Pangasinan PNP director, and P/Supt. Candito Quijardo, Calasiao police chief, rushed to the area for investigation and secured the area.

Recovered at the scene were a mechanical clock, batteries and electrical wiring which were brought for examination to a crime laboratory. — Artemio Dumlao, Cesar Ramirez, Vic Alhambra Jr., Ann Corvera