Two hurt in Antipolo blast

One of six homemade bombs, found outside a grocery store in Antipolo City at daybreak yesterday, exploded as it was being defused, injuring two firefighters and destroying property amounting to some P1 million.

At about the same time, Reuters reported that police defused a bomb which an unidentified passenger left in a pedicab in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur.

Rizal provincial police director Superintendent Arturo Tolentino identified the injured as firemen Edilberto Jornacion and Pablo Balberon. They sustained abrasions on both their arms but were declared out of danger in a local hospital.

Tolentino said the bombs were found beside Rempson Supermarket on Lopez Jaena street by construction worker Domingo Hernandez, 20, who was working on the grocery’s renovation.

Hernandez, who slept at their worksite, discovered black plastic containers with exposed wires and batteries at around 6:30 a.m. and reported his find to the Antipolo police.

While the Antipolo police waited for bomb experts from Camp Crame, responding firefighters, including Jornacion and Balberon, hosed the containers with water to destroy the exposed batteries and wiring attached to timers on three of the six containers.

However, one of the bombs exploded minutes later, leaving a crater about one meter in diameter and blowing off sliding doors of the grocery and three adjoining stalls and damaging seven houses.

The explosion caused a mild panic in Antipolo, with government employees evacuating the city hall and Antipolo Mayor Angelito Gatlabayan suspending classes in private and public schools.

Special Police Officer 4 Fernando Baliday, bomb squad team leader, defused the remaining bombs which, he said, contained some 18 to 20 liters of ammonium nitrate mixed with gasoline — the equivalent of one or two pounds of high explosives.

Baliday said the homemade bombs were timed by wristwatches set at 8:35, 10:25 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and included three sets of blasting caps and six 1.5-volt pen-sized batteries.

Tolentino said some witnesses gave descriptions of the perpetrators but no arrests have been made as of late yesterday.

Neither are police discounting the possibility that the foiled bombing may have had something to do with an internal problem at Rempson Supermarket, whose management refused to issue any statement, Tolentino added.

A few hours later, Antipolo police again received a bomb threat at the Antipolo public market at around 9:30 a.m. but bomb experts found the call to be a hoax.

Tolentino has ordered that security be tightened at all vital installations and big establishments all over the province.

In Manila, employees and security personnel of the Philam Life Building along United Nations Avenue were alarmed yesterday after a suspicious bag was spotted at the building’s driveway after noon yesterday.

The black travel bag was found at a flower box near the driveway by security guard Achilles Maongca as he was inspecting the building’s grounds at about 12:20 p.m.

Suspecting the bag contained a bomb, Maongca reported his find to the Western Police District’s bomb disposal unit, whose members arrived a few minutes later.

When the bag was opened, however, it contained electrical wires of various colors and lengths.

Police said the bag could have been left by a prankster who tried to ride on the scare caused by the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York City.

Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy director general for operations Hermogenes Ebdane also expressed concern that pranksters may be riding on the public concern over terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, Southern Police District director Chief Superintendent Jose Gutierrez Sr. downplayed fears of more bomb threats at Makati City’s central business district after the false alarm at the Rufino Tower last Friday.

Gutierrez said police are looking at the possibility that the bomb threat may have been sent by individuals who have axes to grind with the building administration.

The Rufino Tower administration received the bomb threat on Friday and evacuated all its 42 floors as well as the adjacent Rufino Building.

Gutierrez stressed that investigators are not discounting the possibility that there really may have been a target.

The diplomatic community, Gutierrez said, has also sought for additional police units around embassies and the homes of their personnel, most of which are located in Makati City.

Gutierrez said the SPD has increased police presence in response to the growing concern of businesses and residents and has beefed up the Makati City police by 90 additional policemen.

The PNP National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) has also deployed more policemen as part of the regional mobile group and has extended the patrols conducted all over the metropolis. - With Jose Aravilla, Christina Mendez, Mike Frialde, Marvin Sy