Lawyer, 3 others charged for QC blasts

MANILA, Philippines - A lawyer and three other persons were charged yesterday in connection with twin blasts in Quezon City last week, with police officers alleging that the suspects have a long-standing dispute with the purported targets of the attack.

Lawyer Jesus Abeleda Jr.; his partner, Susan Bulda; and two other still unidentified men were slapped with two counts of frustrated murder and three counts of malicious mischief before the city prosecutor’s office, said Senior Superintendent Richard Albano, director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

He said the four suspects may be arrested once a court issues a warrant for their arrest.

In a press conference, Albano described the two explosive devices that went off in Barangay Ramon Magsaysay as “improvised,” using the chemical dinitroluene or DNT that is used as a precursor of the high explosive trinitroluene or TNT.

“It could possibly be the reason why it was a strong explosion,” Albano told reporters.

Land row

Albano said the filing of the criminal charges were based on the statement of couple Joel and Charmaine Joy Tating, who pointed to Abeleda, citing past run-ins with the lawyer over a dispute involving the compound in Barangay Ramon Magsaysay, where they all stay.

The Tatings claim they are the rightful owners of the property, after Joel’s mother bought the compound from a sibling. Abeleda supposedly rents a unit in the compound from another sibling of Tating’s mother and refuses to leave the premises even after the end of his contract.

According to Albano, they had sent word to Abeleda’s camp about the allegations made by the Tating couple but the lawyer allegedly ignored them.

As for the other two unnamed suspects, they were allegedly Abeleda’s “bodyguards,” who were previously seen with him during past encounters in the contested property, said Inspector Elmer Monsalve of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.

Monsalve said surveillance footage showed the two unidentified men leaving the area just before the explosion on June 8 that destroyed two cars being fixed at Tating’s auto repair shop. The explosion wounded bystander Virgilio Agito.

The Tating couple and other witnesses also reportedly saw the two men in the area just before the blast.

Unusual chemical

Albano said crime scene investigators took swab samples from the destroyed vehicles and found residues of the pale yellow substance.

“It turned out the same chemical was used in both explosives that went off,” Albano said.

Inspector Noel Sublay, head of the QCPD’s Explosives and Ordnance Division, said DNT is commonly used in the production of flexible polyurethane foam used in the bedding and furniture industry.

Sublay added the chemical is also used as an intermediate in the manufacture of dyes and, in purified form, in smokeless gunpowder.