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Tuesday, January 13, 2004
5 cops, 5 civilians hurt in Abra blasts
CAMP DANGWA, Benguet -- Five policemen and five other civilians in Abra province were seriously injured in two separate explosions that rocked the province over the weekend.
A belated report from the Police Regional Office-Cordillera Administrative Region (PRO-CAR) said the first explosion occurred on Saturday when the five policemen were trying to recover two hand grenades from a mentally-retarted man in Bangued town.
The injured policemen were named as Senior Police Officer 2 Ernie Heruela, Police Officer 3 Romeo Tubera and Police Officers 2 Roque Bernal, Aldrin Alipio and Robert Bringas.
Three civilians - Abraham Pastores, 28; Russel Bernal, 42; and Efren Garcia, 46 - who were near the explosion site, were also hurt. All eight were rushed to the Abra Provincial Hospital for treatment.
Senior Supt. Eugene Martin, PRO-CAR chief of staff, said the suspect, identified as Noli Gascon Collado, 40, single, is now under the custody of the Bangued Municipal Police Station.
Martin said the injured policemen received a call from a concerned citizen that a deranged man was playing with two grenades inside a restaurant along Magallanes Street in Zone 5, Bangued.
Immediately proceeding to the area, the policemen cornered the deranged man and tried to grab the grenades but one of them fell off the ground and exploded.
The other grenade was also recovered from the crime scene.
Last Friday, two other residents of barangay Poblacion, Lagayan, Abra were also seriously wounded when still unidentified men lobbed a homemade bomb at their residential house.
The victims were identified as Joel Lapez and her sister Monina. The two are presently confined in a local hospital.
Reports revealed that the two were distant relatives of Lagayan Vice Mayor Joy Chrisma Luna. The Luna clan, led by Lagayan Mayor Cecilia Luna, has been with the opposition bloc for years.
But authorities ruled out that the explosions were election-related.
Several months ago, around 50 heavily-armed operatives of the PRO-CAR Regional Mobile Group were deployed to Abra in the heels of the increasing incidents of homicide, frustrated homicide, murder and frustrated murder perpetrated involving politicians and civilian alike. HFP
(January 13, 2004 issue)
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