BAGUIO CITY (Updated 8:36 p.m.) — Abra police said no one was hurt from the blast of a grenade lobbed at the home of La Paz, Abra town municipal administrator Perfecto “Pope” Bolos Cardenas in Rizal Street, Zone 6, Bangued, Abra’s capital, early dawn Thursday.
Bangued town police chief Major Paul Claveria said the grenade was lobbed at around 2 a.m. but was only reported to them 2:35 a.m.
Investigators from the Abra Provincial Explosive Ordnance and Canine Unit (PECU) found a safety lever and safety pin of a still unidentified hand grenade.
Claveria added that they are reviewing CCTV footage in a bid to identify the suspects while they have yet to establish strong evidence that a motorcycle-riding suspect seen in the area via CCTC had something to do with the blast.
"Wala pa [pong] concrete na evidence as to the incident if the motorcycle rider and his passenger seen in the CCTV are the real perpetrators, although it is a coincidence with the explosion,” the police said.
(There's no concrete evidence that the motorcycle rider and his passenger in the CCTV [footage] are the real perpetrators, although it is a coincidence with the explosion)
Claveria hinted that a deeper investigation is suggesting another scenario. However, he refused to divulge more details pending conclusive findings.
La Paz town Mayor Joseph "JB" Bernos, also the national chairman of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), still refuses to conclude that the attack on the administrator’s home is politically-motivated. He, however, confirmed that Cardenas’ name rings a loud bell in Bangued town politics.
Cardenas was a former three termer councilor of Bangued and once a member of the Sangunniang Panlalawigan and a retired director of Civil Service Commission (CSC) Abra after the COVID-19 pandemic.