Another bank rocked by blast

MANILA, Philippines - An explosion rocked another bank in Camanava yesterday morning.

The blast created a crater 11 inches wide and an inch deep at the ATM booth of the UnionBank branch at the corner of Fatima Avenue and Macarthur Highway in Barangay Marulas, Valenzuela City.

The explosion, the third targeting a bank in Camanava, shattered the glass wall and damaged the ceiling of the main entrance of the bank.

No one was reported killed or injured in the blast that
occurred at around 5:23 a.m. yesterday, investigators said.

The explosion came on the heels of two simultaneous blasts at the Allied Bank branches in Caloocan and Valenzuela on Saturday night. The explosions caused “very minimal” damage, investigators said.

Northern Police District (NPD) Director Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said yesterday’s explosion was caused by “black gunpowder used in pyrotechnics.”

He said this was not the handiwork of terrorists.

“One thing for sure, this was not a bombing incident,” Pagdilao told The STAR.

Official reports called it a mere “pillbox throwing incident.”

Pagdilao, in a hastily called press briefing at the Caloocan City Police headquarters, told reporters he has ordered an in-depth investigation into the incidents.

“The blast did not have the signature of terrorists,” another senior NPD official said, adding these were only meant to scare the public “for whatever reason”. They have yet to find out the motive of the suspects.

Valenzuela city police chief Senior Superintendent Ranier Idio ordered the city SWAT bomb squad, investigation and mobile patrol units to investigate the crime scene.

Witnesses told police that prior to the explosion, they saw two unidentified males on a black motorcycle coming from the north that stopped in front of the ATM booth.

The backrider reportedly threw what looked like a stick with one end emitting smoke at the door of the booth and hurriedly left, speeding towards Monumento in Caloocan City. After some 25 seconds, the blast occurred, witnesses said.

Like Saturday’s explosions no components of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were recovered at yesterday’s blast. The elements used in the device are yet to be confirmed at the crime lab.

Meanwhile, SPO2 Jesus Sagisi, Valenzuela City police senior investigator, admitted they are in the dark over the possible motive behind the series of explosions in the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) area.

“We are puzzled by the suspects’ motive for the series of bank attacks, which were not meant to hurt anybody because the hits were done during hours where people on the streets are few,” Sagisi told The STAR.

Sagisi said that even the banks’ officials are also in “a dilemma.”

“No threats or anything which they could connect to the attacks,” he said.

The pillbox throwing was captured by the bank’s surveillance camera but the video was blurred, Sagisi said.

Valenzuela city police were still coordinating yesterday with the witnesses and bank officials to gather more information.

Pagdilao yesterday ordered his four police chiefs in Camanava area to intensify intelligence gathering to identify and arrest the suspects and to double their visibility patrol. – With Dennis Carcamo