Vintage bombs found

CEBU, Philippines - Two vintage bombs were unearthed by a backhoe operator in a construction site in Barangay Lataban, Liloan town Tuesday morning.

Senior Police Officer 2 Bryan Batiquin, desk offi-cer of Liloan Police Station, said that Wilson Comero, the backhoe operator, called the police station when they unearthed two vintage bombs while they were digging soil in a construction site to lay the foundation of a building.

Batiquin said Comero had no idea what the metal was when he first unearthed it. But a few minutes later, they found another metal object.

Batiquin said they immediately checked to see if there are other bombs in the area since he said Liloan was formerly a mine “planting field” during World War II.

Batiquin said this was the second incident in which a vintage bomb was unearthed in the area.

The police station has three vintage bombs deposited in the station.

Batiquin said the provincial headquarters doesn’t have a facility to store vintage bombs and that travelling the bombs from Liloan to the headquarters is not easy.

The Cebu Police Provincial Office only has one explosives expert, Senior Police Officer 1 Renante Solante, a Provincial Intelligence Branch operative.

Most of the bombs that were found last year were detonated in Toledo City. —(FREEMAN)