Batangas lawmen fail to preserve blast scene

BATANGAS CITY — Probers are having a hard time securing evidence from the car blast scene here Thursday night because the local police failed to secure it, a Philippine National Police (PNP) official said yesterday.

"Halos lahat sunog at hindi pa na-preserve yung crime scene. Lahat na yata ng tao at media nakalapit sa crime scene kaya hirap kaming kumuha ng ebidensya (Almost everything was burned and the crime scene was not preserved. It seems that almost everyone and the media got near the scene so we are finding it difficult to get evidence)," said Chief Inspector Reynold Rosero, deputy chief of the PNP Bomb Data Center.

Batangas Gov. Armand Sanchez suffered second-degree burns while his driver, Luisito Icaro, and bodyguard, PO3 Eric Landicho, were killed when two blasts ripped through the governor’s Hummer H2 at about 6:20 p.m. in front of the provincial Capitol.

Rosero said the explosive used was meant to inflict maximum damage, adding that the second blast could have involved the vehicle’s gasoline tank.

He said Icaro and Landicho could have survived the explosions had they promptly got out of the vehicle.

Rosero said bomb experts were trying to locate the magnet or paste used in planting the explosive.

"From the paste or magnet, we could identify the type of explosive (used) and who made it," he added.

The PNP has formed a composite team to hunt those behind the bombing, Deputy Director General Oscar Calderon, PNP deputy chief for administration, said in a press briefing at the provincial Capitol yesterday.

The task force is composed of the National Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Batangas police and ordnance experts of the Armed Forces.

Caldero said probers are eyeing three angles in the bombing, an apparent assassination attempt on Sanchez — politics, business and personal.

He added though that it is too early to make any speculations "but rest assured that preliminary findings will be announced as soon as (they) are available."

Calderon urged Batangueños to stay calm, saying the police are on top of the situation.

Lawyer Ronaldo Geron, provincial administrator, issued the same call, saying that Sanchez is in good condition and able to run the affairs of the provincial government.

Geron admitted that Sanchez had received death threats four weeks before the incident. Asked who had issued the threats, he kept mum, saying the governor had kept them to himself.

At the Senate, Sen. Ralph Recto urged the PNP to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the bombing.

"It is unfortunate that this had to happen in Batangas… I’m glad that he is out of danger," he said.

Recto’s wife, Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos, is reportedly being groomed to fight Sanchez in next year’s elections. Recto’s brother, Ricky, is the vice governor.

For his part, Sen. Manuel Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, expressed alarm over the "brazen" attack on Sanchez.

Villar said the PNP should double its efforts against criminality, especially amid the wave of killings of activists and journalists and now the attack on the Batangas governor. — With Christina Mendez