4 kids hurt in Valenzuela pillbox blast

MANILA, Philippines - Four children sustained minor injuries when their neighbor allegedly detonated a homemade bomb in Valenzuela City Sunday afternoon.

Senior Police Officer 2 Percy Villanueva said nine-year-old Crisanto Lugtu, was injured in the left eye, while his younger sisters Cristine Joy, 7, and Criselda, 5, also sustained injuries in their face, chest and arms.

The siblings’ playmate, Wilfredo Pelayo, 6, sustained multiple superficial injuries in the face and body.

The victims told police that at around 2 p.m., they were playing on Bahay Pari street in Barangay Gen. T. De Leon, when Jose Allan Policarpio, 43, also a resident of the area, placed something at the gate of the Mendoza compound. After Policarpio left, there was an explosion.

The wounded children were brought to the Our Lady of Fatima Hospital for treatment of their injuries. Policarpio was immediately arrested.

According to Villanueva, their initial findings showed that the explosive was a homemade bomb or pillbox.

He said Policarpio claimed that he had no intention of hurting anyone except from trying whether his bomb would explode.

The Northern Police District-Scene of the Crime Operatives (NPD-SOCO) team led by Chief Inspector Benigno Asilar Jr. recovered at the scene of the explosion pieces of copper tubes and green fabric.

Villanueva said that the NPD crime lab is yet to determine the component of the explosive while a deeper investigation is being conducted to establish the suspect’s real motive.