Recovered grenade goes off in police station; bomb expert killed, 3 injured

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – A grenade exploded in a police sub-station here yesterday morning, killing a veteran bomb expert and injuring three other lawmen.

SPO2 Rafael Managuit of the Explosives and Ordnance Division of the city police was declared dead on arrival at the St. Therese Hospital at around 8:30 a.m.

Reports said Managuit, who was due for mandatory retirement next year, died from shrapnel wounds on the face, chest and arms.

Injured were PO3 Abundio Diaz Jr. and PO2s Roque Gimeno III and Albert Sardua Jr., all belonging to the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit.

Gimeno and Sardua have been declared out of danger, while Diaz underwent an operation at the Iloilo St. Paul’s Hospital, SWAT head Chief Inspector Salvador Dagoon told The STAR.

The victims had just returned to their detachment at the Robinson’s Place-Iloilo from Barangay East Baluarte where they recovered the grenade as well as a rifle grenade from the roof of a store of a certain Yolanda Sinato.

PO2 Eduardo Siacon Jr., a SWAT officer, recounted that on his way out of the police sub-station to relieve himself, a news team from ABS-CBN was interviewing Managuit about the grenades they had recovered.

“I was walking back to our station, and was just a few meters away when I heard a loud explosion,” he said.

“The news team had just gone out of the detachment, and was preparing to leave when it happened. I heard a very loud explosion, and then I saw a plume of smoke come out of the station,” he added.

Siacon said he saw three of his companions stagger out of the station, already bloodied, and the news team rushed them to the hospital.

According to Siacon, it took some time before Managuit was brought to the hospital because of the unexploded rifle grenade.

Police were still investigating what caused the grenade to go off in the hands of a trained ordnance expert.

SWAT members recalled hearing a click shortly before the explosion.

Managuit was one of the two bomb experts assigned to the city police; the other one is SPO1 John Meneses.

With Managuit gone, Senior Superintendent Melvyn Mongcal, city police chief, said they would request for a replacement from the regional police office.

Mongcal said Managuit would not have died if he was wearing a bomb suit.

After conferring with Mayor Jerry Treñas about the incident, Mongcal said the city government might purchase a bomb suit, which costs about P10 million.

In the country, Mongcal only the police in Makati City have a bomb suit. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe