Frozen grenade left at retired judge’s house

MANILA, Philippines - A hand grenade, encased in ice and without a safety pin, was found in front of a retired judge’s house in Bloomfield Subdivision in Quezon City Tuesday morning.

Witnesses said two white vans stopped and their occupants placed a cloth bag in front of Vivencio Baclig’s house at around 4:30 a.m., according to Senior Inspector Noel Sublay of the Quezon City Police District explosives and ordnance disposal unit.

The bag contained the MK2 fragmentation grenade, two bottles of a popular sports drink, and a plastic bottle containing diesel and trinitrotoluene, he said.

The former Quezon City regional trial court judge was the one who cleared the Ampatuans and their followers of rebellion charges in connection with the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre for lack of evidence.

Sublay said the grenade was discovered at around 7:30 a.m. when the judge’s driver, thinking the bag was full of garbage, placed it near their neighbor’s gate.

Baclig’s neighbor reported the incident to the police, saying that the grenade might have exploded once the ice melted.

Sublay said the grenade, which his unit has set for disposal, is indeed capable of exploding.

Investigators said the subdivision has no surveillance cameras and witnesses failed to take note of the white vans’ license plates.

The subdivision guards’ logbook showed that only a taxi entered the village from the time the white vans were seen, Sublay said.

The incident may be connected to disputes within the homeowners’ association, where Baclig serves as the incumbent president’s adviser, he said.

Sublay also believes the white vans may be hidden within the village and the residents are just keeping silent.

He said investigators need to step up their efforts because the persons who left the grenade are knowledgeable about explosives and they “might do this again and produce more explosives in a wide area in Quezon City.”