5 WWII shells found

CEBU, Philippines - Five vintage shells were found by a carpenter doing house renovation in Sitio Riverside, Barangay Hipodromo, Cebu City since Friday.

The first three shells were unearthed Friday noon inside the house of Lading Naces, 83, while the carpenter was digging a pit for septic tank, the police said. Two more shells were discovered yesterday when the carpenter resumed digging.

The carpenter reported what he found to the Cebu City Police Office. A team of bomb experts from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit was immediately dispatched to retrieve the shells, which the police believed were used during the World War II.

Naces believes that the shells recovered inside her house are part of the piles of bombs recovered by his husband in the 1950s.

She said her deceased husband, Ehino, was tasked by a Chinese merchant to collect bombs across the city which was allegedly used in making cooking utensils.

 Naces said that the area in their house where the five shells were found used to be the place where her husband stored the collected bombs.

 “The bombs my husband collected were sent to a nearby factory for profit to be reused. Many scavengers were always in the search for bombs in the old days,” she added.  (FREEMAN)