2 hurt in UP Diliman blast

MANILA, Philippines - Two employees of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City were injured when a buried pillbox exploded yesterday afternoon.

Campus maintenance workers Reynando Natividad, 44, and Faustino Valencia, 38, were digging near Palma Hall when they hit the buried pillbox at around 2:20 p.m., according to Inspector Noel Sublay, chief of the Quezon City Police District’s explosives and ordnance division.

Natividad was brought to the East Avenue Medical Center as he suffered severe injuries due to shrapnel from the explosive. Valencia was treated at the campus infirmary.

Sublay said they are looking to conflicts between fraternities as the explosion occurred near an area where members of a certain fraternity usually hang out.

UP chief security officer, professor Edgardo Dagdag, said they have yet to determine when the pillbox was buried. He added that it was too early to say that fraternities were behind the the explosion.

Dagdag said that the explosion was an “unfortunate” incident and that the university would conduct a proper investigation.