Cops reviewing CCTV near Morales' house

Manila, Philippines -  Police are reviewing the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras of establishments near the house of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales in Muntinlupa City to get leads on the suspect who left a hand grenade in the area last Wednesday afternoon.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Alan Purisima did not say how many establishments forwarded the video footage of CCTV cameras to the Southern Police District (SPD).

“The SPD investigators are now in the process of reviewing the video footage and we are hoping that whoever planted the hand grenade was caught (on camera),” said Purisima yesterday.

Purisima said the SPD investigators are also tracing the origin of the grenade that was found near the gate of the house of Morales.

“The hand grenade could be issued to several persons already. Adding to our dilemma is that there are so many types of such hand grenades in the arsenal of our police and military organizations,” he added.

Security guard Ricky Apostol found the grenade placed inside a plastic canister near the gate of Morales’ compound.

Purisima said they are still determining whether the grenade was meant to harm Morales, or to harass and scare her and her family.

He admitted that there are no positive developments yet in their investigation of the case, pointing out that “we are exhausting all efforts to gather evidence that would eventually help us solve the case.”

Purisima said they also failed to decipher the meaning of the note that was recovered along with the hand grenade.

The note read: “Pang densa kay CCM-nagmalakit.”

Purisima said the language of the note is not Kapampangan, not Visayan nor Mindanaoanon.

“We are at a loss as to its meaning. Maybe it was just a work of somebody with a sick mind just to confuse police investigators,” he said.