Grenade blast rocks PETA office

A grenade exploded outside the office of a theatre group in Quezon City a few hours before two scheduled performances yesterday.

The blast happened at 4:55 a.m. and damaged a windowpane in front of the office of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) on Eymard Drive in Barangay Kristong Hari, according to Inspector Arnulfo Franco, chief of the Explosives and Ordnance Division of the Quezon City Police District.

“After further investigation, we found out that it was a fragmentation hand grenade model M-K2,” Franco told The STAR in an interview.

No one hurt by the blast that created a crater in front of the office. The crater measured more than an inch deep and more than five inches across, Franco said.

Security guard Romer Barientos, who was the only one in the building when the blast happened, said a man on a motorcycle passed by the street seconds before he heard the explosion.

Village watchman Rodrigo Acompañado, who was also on duty in the area yesterday morning, said the motorcycle, whose license plate he was not able to note, came from the direction of Doña Juana Street.

Franco suspects the man did not intend to inflict injury on anyone but just wanted to cause panic.

“If he (suspect) really wanted to hurt anyone, the explosion would have occurred during the scheduled performances with the audiences already here or he would have thrown the grenade at the building and not outside,” Franco said.

The police have yet to determine the motive behind the explosion. Investigators met with PETA officials yesterday to come up with leads that could help the police determine the identity of the one who lobbed the grenade, Franco said.

He also cited that the police could also increase security in the area whenever the group has a performance to make sure that no such incident will happen again.

Yesterday’s 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. shows pushed through despite the explosion.

Chief Inspector Rolando Bumagat, chief of the community precinct of the QCPD-Station 11, said they decided to let the performances push through after they secured the area.

“And they (PETA) could not cancel the show since the tickets had already been bought,” Bumagat said.

Despite the blast, 470 people attended the first show. The theater’s seating capacity is only for 400 people, said PETA executive director Melvin Lee.

Even Lee could not think of anyone who may have anything against their group or its members.

“None whatsoever. This is really an isolated case,” Lee told The STAR, citing it was the first time that such incident happened in their building’s premises.

Lee also said their group had not received any threats prior to yesterday’s blast.