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Friday, December 13, 2002
Girl dies, 4 hurt in Diwalwal blast
By Ben O. Tesiorna
A CHILD died while four others were wounded when a rifle grenade the victims were said to be playing with exploded Wednesday noon in Mt. Diwata, Monkayo, Compostela Valley.
The wounded were identified as Manuel Awit, Alvin Hernandez, Dionisio Lariño and Carlito Miñoza while Regine Miñoza died due to severe injuries she incurred from the explosion. All were said to be minors.
Police initial investigation revealed that the children were playing with the rifle grenade inside the Blucor Minerals Corporation bunkhouse at around 12:30 p.m. when it accidentally went off.
Sr. Supt. Eric Javier, PNP regional directorial staff chief, said they ordered an investigation into the incident to find out where the children got the rifle grenade.
Javier said the grenade could have been "residues" of the arsenal the miners were believed to be keeping during the times when the peace and order situation in the gold-rush area, commonly called as Diwalwal, was still very volatile.
When asked if the incident would initiate a series of police search operations inside the tunnels and bunkhouses in Diwalwal for other possible firearms and explosives, Javier, however, said it is not likely to happen.
"Let's not expect too much from our police. What is important is nakita yung marked improvement sa peace and order situation sa Diwalwal," the police officer said.
It was learned that police personnel from regions 10 and 13 comprising the PNP's Task Force Diwalwal had already been withdrawn from the area.
First to withdraw were those from region 13 (Caraga Region) and last December 3, police officers from Region 10 were again withdrawn from the area reducing the personnel to a little over a hundred people.
Sr. Supt. Javier, however, said the PNP 11 readily reinforced the TF Diwalwal with about 100 fresh police graduates to ensure that peace and order in the area be preserved.
(December 12, 2002 issue)
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