2 men tagged in twin QC blasts

MANILA, Philippines - Police investigators believe two men placed two improvised explosive devices that went off before dawn on Friday and destroyed two vehicles in a neighborhood in Quezon City, an official said yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Richard Albano, director of the Quezon City Police District, said investigators found two residents who claimed seeing two men running away from the site immediately after the blast in front of a compound on Ilocos Sur street in Barangay Ramon Magsaysay, Bago Bantay.

Albano said the two witnesses are currently being interviewed to provide descriptions that could be used to come up with sketches of the suspects.

Albano said they managed to secure a copy of footage taken by a surveillance camera of one of the neighbors of the Tating couple – the perceived target of the attack.

The video showed that at around 2 a.m. on Friday, a car dropped off two men along the street before the explosion.

“It’s very unusual for a vehicle to drop off persons in the neighborhood at that time,” said Albano, citing there were no shops open at that time.

He said the men in the surveillance footage and the ones seen by the witnesses could be the same persons.

Albano said the attack could have been motivated by personal grudge, citing a property dispute raised by the Tating couple, who owns a car repair shop on Ilocos Sur street.

Joel Tating and his wife, Charmaine Joy, went to see Albano following the incident to divulge details on the supposed property dispute. They cited a dispute with a tenant who had refused to vacate an occupied space in the compound.

According to Charmaine Joy, there had been previous encounters with the tenant, whom she claimed had even threatened her in one instance.