Vendor real target of grenade attack?

MANILA, Philippines - Police are looking into the possibility that a vendor, who was among those wounded in a grenade explosion along EDSA in Cubao, Quezon City, could have been the real target of the grenade thrower.

Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., commander of the Quezon City Police District-Station 10, yesterday said witnesses could not provide details that could lead to the identification of the suspect who lobbed the grenade in Barangay Immaculate Concepcion Monday.

Pedrozo said they were waiting the discharge of vendor Rommel Simporios from the hospital to determine if he could provide information vital to the investigation.

“There’s a possibility that he (Simporios) was the target of the grenade attack,” Pedrozo said.

Simporios was among the five people hurt in the explosion. The three others were passengers of a bus passing in the area at the time, while the other was a mere passerby.

Pedrozo said they released the three men — William Balasbas, Romeo Madilar, Romnick Intia — they earlier invited for questioning regarding the attack. The three figured in a brawl with vendors prior to the explosion.

The police official said that before the fight, Intia and Madilar along with a male companion entered an apartelle where Balasbas works as a room boy.

Minutes later, Madilar and his companions went out and exchanged heated words with an alleged pimp identified as Lito.

Balasbas tried to pacify the men, who turned their ire on him which resulted in a free-for-all, with the vendors joining the fracas.

Responding policemen brought the men to the police station where they agreed to settle the matter amicably.

Moments after the incident, a grenade exploded in the area, prompting police to invite the three men again to the station. All three denied involvement in the blast.