Cagayan politics eyed in Quezon City church blast

MANILA, Philippines - Police have ruled out terrorism and are zeroing in on local politics in Cagayan province as the possible motive behind the grenade attack outside a Quezon City church Sunday.

Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego, director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), said their new focus is based on a statement by a son of lawyer Manuel Molina, who suffered a fractured right foot from the blast outside United Methodist Church on Kamuning near EDSA.

QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) head Superintendent Lino Banaag said Molina’s son, Mario, told police about the supposed political rift in Buguey, Cagayan but investigators at the moment did not divulge further details.

He also claimed that since the supposed political rift was brought out in the media earlier this month, unidentified men have been seen around their house in Barangay West Triangle until the night before the explosion.

All probabilities regarding the motive will still be looked into but police have already ruled out terrorism, said QCPD-CIDU deputy head Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano.

Police investigators are sifting through the crime scene for fragments of the hand grenade and interviewing witnesses to establish the identity of the one who lobbed it. – Reinir Padua