2 Cagayan de Oro cop execs sacked over blast

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Two high-ranking police officers here were relieved from their posts yesterday following a grenade explosion in front of a lending firm that left eight people, including a policeman, injured the previous day, according to a Philippine National Police (PNP) official.

PNP regional spokesman Superintendent Ronnie Francis Cariaga said the relief orders for Chief Inspector Lemuel Gonda, head of the Agora police station, and Senior Superintendent Gerardo Rosales, city police chief, were signed by PNP regional director Chief Superintendent Gil Hitosis, and were effective immediately.

Cariaga told local media that the officers’ relief stemmed from the explosion caused by an MK2 grenade in front of the Golden Sun Finance Corp. in Barangay Lapasan here.

Injured in the blast were SPO3 Rogeio Mendiola, Danny Ragrag, retired police officer Rodolfo Gebutad, Fernando Biernes, Pritchie Pios, Evangelita Salamanca, Argie Palma, and Roderick Cabihin.

Hitosis earlier said they could not link the explosion to the pyramid scam since they had not yet talked to the owner of the lending firm.

The blast site was just a stone’s throw away from the regional police headquarters.

The explosion happened more than a month after an improvised bomb went off outside the Maxandrea Hotel, killing two persons.

Shortly after the incident, Hitosis had warned that a repeat of such an incident would cost the head of the commander of the police precinct with jurisdiction over the blast site.

Rosales will be temporarily replaced by Superintendent Antonio Montalba as city police chief, while Gonda’s successor has yet to be named.

Gonda accepted the relief order yesterday, saying he respects the decision of the PNP higher command.

Meanwhile, the management of the Golden Sun Finance Corp. has already submitted to the police a list of its clients whom it had filed charges in court, hoping it could help investigators identify those who planted the bomb.

Hitosis earlier had aired suspicion that the incident could have been triggered by a disagreement between the lending company and one of its customers.