Police downplay terror angle in Bacoor blast

CAMP VICENTE LIM – Police downplayed yesterday the terror angle in the deadly Bacoor, Cavite subdivision explosion on Thursday, saying it could have been accidentally set off in one of the houses that clandestinely manufactured dynamites for fishermen.

Superintendent Antonio Yarra, Bacoor police chief, told The STAR that they arrested two men near the site of the blast for possession of blasting caps and other materials used for making explosives. He identified the two as Neil Endab and Jimmy Atienza.

The blast destroyed a row of six houses on Anthurium Street in Phase V, Camella Sorrento Homes in Barangay Panapaan Thursday afternoon.

The explosion was believed to have originated from the house of Rechilda Suson, 54, who was one of the five fatalities. The other fatalities were identified as Francis Luis Avian, 29; Raphael Amongo, Leo Dellosa, and Ferdinand Tabara, 22. A certain Joel Dellosa is missing and is feared dead. One of the fatalities, Avian, was mutilated and was identified only by his younger sister, Vanessa, through his clothes.

Injured in the blast were Eloisa Pagilagan, 61; Rosaler Avian, 18; Jovilita Avila, 1; Ruth Nuñez, 37; Ma. Cicilia Sison, 39; and Ellen Pegusa, 49.

Yarra said they were able to recover three sacks of blasting caps in Suson’s other house in the nearby Barangay Habay. He added that Suson might be the supplier of explosives for dynamite fishers in Cavite, Quezon, and Batangas.

Suson’s children said they live in Barangay Habay while their mother stayed in the house in Barangay Panapaan, which doubled as a factory for dynamite. They said they didn’t know their house was being used as storage site for blasting caps.

Senior Supt. Fidel Posadas, Cavite police director, said that the explosion was so powerful that one badly mangled victim was found 200 meters from the source of the blast. The blast also shattered glass windows of houses within a 100-meter radius.

Members of the Philippine National Red Cross-Emergency Reaction Unit said they were very careful in their retrieval operation because the ground was unstable and there was a danger of cave-in. The PNRC-ERU also checked the area of possible gas leaks.

Not just for dynamite fishing

Investigators believe the explosives that went off in Bacoor were of a deadlier make and might have been intended for quarrying or road-clearing operations.

A source involved in the probe said the recovery of blasting caps, safety fuses, detonating cords, and improvised boosters at the blast site indicated that bigger and deadlier explosive devices caused the devastation.

“While the presence of the sizeable volume of the blasting caps might indicate that the explosives were intended for dynamite fishing, we wondered why there were detonating cords,” a source who declined to be named said. “You do not need a detonating cord for dynamite fishing,” he added even as he ruled out terrorism. “This might have been just another accident.”

He said they might coordinate with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to determine if the owner of the house where the blast originated was a licensed contractor for mining or quarrying operations. – With Evelyn Macairan