Cops to probe Makati bus bombing

MANILA, Philippines - The motive behind the bombing of a passenger bus that killed four people and injured 14 others in Makati City last year is subject to deeper investigation, an official said yesterday.

At the same time, investigators are trying to find out where the 81mm mortar shell, which Police Officer 2 Arnold Mayo allegedly left inside Newman Goldliner bus, came from.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, chief of Southern Police District, said Mayo has yet to undergo tactical interrogation.

Mayo was charged with murder before the Department of Justice on Wednesday after witnesses identified him as the one who allegedly planted the bomb on the bus on January 25, 2011.

Mayo is under the Philippine National Police Special Action Force and is being held at the SAF headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

The bus driver and conductor identified Mayo through his photograph as the one who boarded the Newman Goldliner bus with a backpack shortly before it exploded.

According to Estipona, police are investigating where Mayo got the explosives. “When his locker was inspected, a live 81mm (mortar shell) was found,” he said.

Estipona said the inspection took place immediately after Mayo and his companions forced an owner of an ironworks shop to blowtorch an 81mm mortar shell in Taguig City last Jan. 25, a year after the bus bombing.

Four people were also killed in the Taguig explosion, including Mayo’s colleague, PO3 Jose Torralba, who allegedly boarded the bus with Mayo before the bus exploded last year.