EDITORIAL - Deadly gift

How many people know how to booby-trap a grenade? And how many people have access to grenades, with sufficient security clearance to pack not just one but five pieces into a box?

Gift-giving became a dangerous business this holiday season after a woman was killed by a grenade that blew up as she opened the box in which it had been packaged as a gift. Police reported finding four other grenades, their safety pins intact, around the remains of Yvonne Chua, a 31-year-old housewife, who had opened the gift while seated in a sofa at her home in Taguig last Wednesday. The gift reportedly bore a card that said it came from “mama.” Chua’s mother, a resident of Forbes Park in Makati, has denied any hand in the murder.

Only the military and police have legitimate access to grenades. The explosives do not seem to be favored by insurgents or terrorists, who have instead used landmines and improvised explosive devices in previous attacks. It shouldn’t be impossible to trace the source of the grenades sent to Chua, who had reportedly been receiving death threats for the past two years, apparently over property disputes.

If the task proves impossible, the Armed Forces of the Philippines in particular must review its system of keeping track of its weaponry. Is anyone keeping an accurate inventory of all the guns, ammunition and explosives procured by the AFP? Authorities should also review the regulations and monitoring system governing the production and importation of materials used for manufacturing explosives.

If Chua’s murderer is not found, the killer could strike again. The success of the crime can also encourage copycats. Only a few people in this country have the skills to booby-trap a grenade into a gift package, but there are other deadly devices that can be fashioned into parcel bombs – a threat now faced by several countries. The sender of the gift bomb must be caught and the source of the grenades pinpointed.