Ecija vice mayor cheats death in grenade attack

JAEN, Nueva Ecija — This town’s vice mayor cheated death when unidentified motorcyle-riding men tossed a grenade at his house past midnight last Wednesday, police said.

Vice Mayor Danilo de Guzman was asleep when the grenade exploded at his residence in Barangay San Jose here at about 2 a.m. The blast hurt no one but damaged De Guzman’s Toyota Tamaraw FX and Pajero.

Chief Inspector Erick Armamento, chief of the police Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Bureau, said the grenade was thrown from the gate but hit a bougainvillea tree and dropped at the compound where it exploded.

"Obviously, their intention was for the grenade to explode on the roof but it did not go as planned," he said.

Armamento refused to speculate on the motive behind the attack but said they are looking into several angles, including politics.

The grenade explosion was the second to have occurred in this town in five months. Last August, a man was killed when a grenade went off during a drinking spree in Barangay Putlod, in what police said was a mere accident. – Manny Galvez