2 NCRPO officials sacked over camp blast

Two ranking officials of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) were sacked yesterday for their lapses that resulted in the bombing of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) van inside a police camp in Taguig City last Tuesday.

Chief Superintendent Eric Javier, NCRPO chief of staff, identified the sacked officials as Senior Superintendent Inocentes Capuno, chief security officer of Camp Bagong Diwa and Chief Inspector Paulito Lorgonio, head of the base police.

Javier said Capuno and Lorgonio have been placed on a floating status at the NCRPO administration holding center of the Regional Headquarters Service Group (RHSG).

As this developed, the NCRPO announced that it has a "good lead" in the investigation of the SWAT van bombing.

Chief Superintendent Juan Urani Jr., NCRPO deputy for administration, said they have a witness, a utility worker, who noticed the presence of a male suspect minutes before the explosion.

The suspect, wearing dark clothes, casually walked toward the direction of the camp’s main gate just before the explosion, said the witness.

Urani said the chemical analysis and reconstruction of explosive devices conducted by the crime laboratory and the Philippine Bomb Data Center showed the use of trotuitont and other explosive components in the bomb blasts in Taguig and Quezon City.

"From all indications, these explosives were neither meant to harm nor cause extensive damage, but only to create fear," Urani pointed out.

Up to yesterday, the NCRPO remained on full alert.

Urani said security at Camp Bagong Diwa has been tightened while security survey and inspections were conducted at other possible targets in Metro Manila. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe