Grenade blasts at publisher's hotel

ILOILO CITY ,Philippines  — A grenade explosion roused residents of the heavily-populated area of Muzones and Duran Sts. in Barangay Sto. Rosario of this city early morning yesterday.

The blast target was the soon-to-open Bali Hotel, owned by businessman Rommel Ynion, publisher of The News Today and concurrent president of the Iloilo Press Club (IPC).

Police accounts stated that two men riding on a red motorcycle and donning black jacket lobbed the grenade and immediately fled towards the Plaza Libertad in City Proper district. The explosion damaged two panels of glass doors and glass walls, and partially damaged the concrete wall of the hotel building.

Members of the Explosives Ordnance Division (EOD) of the Iloilo City Police Office and the Philippine Army immediately responded to the scene to conduct a post-blast examination.

Senior Supt. Marietto Valerio, city police director, confirmed that the post-blast probe revealed that the explosive thrown was an MK2 hand grenade. Except for the grenade's safety lever and some fragments, the blast left no trace on the person behind the incident.

Investigators have been exploring on the angle that the blast might be related to the August 22 killing of Niel "Lito" Jimena, a radio block time host in Iloilo City who was killed in Negros Occidental. Two persons riding in tandem fired at Jimena, a known ally of Ynion.

Jimena was openly critical to the administration of City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, but in a latest statement, the City Police said the Jimena killing was a drug-related case citing the victim's former job as informant of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 6.

Valerio said that they are also looking at the angle that the explosion is related to the reported firing last August 29 at Ynion's house at the posh Puerto Real Subdivision in La Paz district. The slug was only found the following day at the conference room, and the police were unable to identify any suspect.

For now, Valerio said everybody may be considered a suspect, at least six of them, including the mayor himself who was reportedly had a rift with Ynion.

Ynion has been vocal about his criticisms against the Mabilog administration, particularly on what he revealed about the "grossly-overpriced" Iloilo City hall construction. This issue triggered an exchange of words between the two that has since then escalated. A second angle looked into by probers was, "it could be plain and simple lawless elements. There are some people who might not be happy about something that they just want to sow terror," Valerio said.

A third one was the possibility of a "third party" or some persons who would want to harm Ynion and put the blame on Mabilog. A fourth angle was that some media personalities may not be happy at all with the scenario of a Mabilog-Ynion rift. Probers have not discounted possibilities that some politicians could be involved because the Ynion-Mabilog conflict would served their purpose.

Since everybody is a suspect, Valerio said that they are exploring the possibility that it could also be staged or orchestrated or a case of "throw-me-a-grenade" scenario. "That's why, I also want to personally talk to Mr. Ynion about the incident … to put to rest once and for all any speculations about the incident," he said.

Several hours after the incident, Mabilog called for a press conference denying his alleged involvement while saying that a "third party" could be the possible brains behind the incident. Some people would benefit from harming Ynion so they could toss the blame on me, said Mabilog as he called for a speedy solution to the blast.

Valerio already tapped the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to conduct a parallel probe on the incident, and he would be asking for some help from the National Bureau of Investigation, which office is just 300 meters from the scene of the explosion.