Police checking CCTV footage of Palawan blasts

MANILA, Philippines - Police are checking the footage of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) and the accounts of at least ten witnesses, which could help solve the two bomb explosions that injured three persons in El Nido and Puerto Princesa City on Maundy Thursday.

Malacañang, meanwhile, said that the Aquino government is trying to address the problem in the face of a travel advisory issued by the United Kingdom warning its citizens against travel to Palawan, which could greatly affect the country’s tourism industry.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo directed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome to conduct an in-depth probe, identify, and capture the suspects and determine the motives in the almost simultaneous bombings in Palawan.

Robredo said that based on reports submitted to him by Palawan police and local officials, the blasts were believed to be politically motivated rather than a terrorist act.

“Aside from the CCTV footage of the incident, police investigators have taken five separate statements from the owner and employees of the Entaula Beach Resort in El Nido,” he said, adding that two Marines who conducted a checkpoint immediately after the El Nido blasts have also given statements.

In the Puerto Princesa City explosion, Robredo said investigators also took separate statements from three bus passengers, the bus helper, and the owner of a sack of rice and two sacks of charcoal where the bomb was placed. Two other possible witnesses may also surface to give their affidavits regarding the incident.

Chief Superintendent Artemio Hicban, PNP Region 4B director, has organized Task Force Hunter led by the Palawan PNP provincial director and the Puerto Princesa City chief of police to investigate and resolve the bombings.

Based on initial findings, the bombs used in the two explosions were similar as both are cellular-phone triggered, improvised explosive devices. “Both explosive devices used were meant to ‘alarm than to harm.’ There were no shrapnel and other sharp objects used,” Robredo said.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn suspects that it was not a terrorist act but rather caused by local conflict in the area. He earlier requested Robredo to investigate the two incidents.

The first explosion occurred at about 5:20 p.m. Thursday near a bus station in Barangay San Jose, about four kilometers away from the Puerto Princesa city proper. Two persons were hurt in the explosion. – With Delon Porcalla