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Saturday, November 25, 2006
Cops detonate bomb found during rally v. firm
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
BAGUIO CITY -- Police found and detonated an improvised bomb at the Ganza parking lot in Baguio City during a rally against the operations of pay parking firm Jadewell on Friday.
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Chief Inspector Leon Talleo, Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) Station 7 chief, said they have not identified who placed the bomb in the area and that they are investigating the incident.
Talleo said the explosive device was detonated by BCPO Explosives and Ordinance Disposal Unit (EODU) operatives at 4:30 p.m. Police have still to subject it to laboratory analysis to ascertain what kind of bomb it was.
Councilor Jose Molintas, who was present during the rally, said he would have to ask that the parking lot be closed until police could assure that the place was safe.
Jadewell president Rogelio Tan said local officials would have to carry them out of the area because they would only stop operation by an order form the Supreme Court.
"We will uphold the rule of law and we will wait for the SC decision. Why can't they also do that? Definitely, the bomber could not have been one of us in Jadewell. We are not crazy to blow ourselves up. That bomb could have been purposely planted to force us to close down."
Showing reporters a permit issued by the City Mayor's Office (CMO), members of the Crusaders Against Jadewell (CAJ) said they were allowed to conduct a rally at the Melvin Jones grandstand and along Harrison Road from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. from November 20 to an undisclosed date in December 2006.
The rally permit was approved by City Administrator Peter Fianza upon the condition that "participants will police their own affair and will use the right outmost lane of the road so as not to impede traffic congestion." Inspector Samuel Bumangil, chief of the BCPO Traffic Management Branch, suggested the condition.
Flyers disseminated by CAJ members earlier stated their "final rally" was scheduled in Melvin Jones and Harrison.
"Let us lay down the premises. They (rallyists) have a permit but it was supposedly only for Melvin Jones. However, they barred the entrance of the parking lot and wanted to come in. Although we were hesitant to let them in at first, since they said this was just for us to speak with each other amicably, we allowed them. It was only when they were already in the parking lot that they started lambasting us and harping allegations against us," Tan said.
He said the bomb scare would not have happened if there were no rallyists in the parking lot. "We asked them to leave in the morning and several times in the afternoon but they kept on delaying their stay here," he said.
The explosive device, described by police as a "cell phone bomb," was turned over to the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory for examination. (Sun.Star Baguio/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (November 25, 2006 issue)
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