IEDs explode in houses of lawyer, UCCP pastor

CEBU, Philippines - The Dumaguete City police is digging deeper into an explosion that hit two residential houses in barangay Pulantubig this city perpetrated by still unidentified persons last Wednesday.

The house of Pastor Jonathan Pia of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in Brgy. Daro of this city incurred minor damages after an improvised explosive device (IED) was hurled into and blasted for a still unknown motive.

The other house, which was similarly blasted, was owned by lawyer Rey Moncada.

Superintendent James Goforth, City Police chief, on Thursday confirmed that the explosion at the house of Rev. Jonathan Pia was caused by an IED and not by a hand grenade or similar military ordnance. Moncada's house, next to the pastor's, suffered some minor damages, he said.

Inspector Richmond Conag, chief of the City Police's investigation section, also clarified and made it was not a bombing incident when first reported because such term connotes an act of terrorism.

Conag said the explosive ripped the rooftop of the house of Pia at around 1a.m. on Wednesday, the fragments of which penetrated through the ceiling and down to the parked SUV.

In the absence of shrapnels, a safety lever or a pin from a hand grenade, the police suspected it could be an explosion caused by an IED, although the Police Crime Lab would still determine if it was of the low or high kind of explosive, based on the samples taken from the crime scene. 

The police are now also investigating on the motive because the victims themselves have no idea on why they were the targets: Pia being a respected pastor of the UCCP and Moncada, a lawyer handling mostly civil cases.

Goforth told The Freeman the police now have leads on the possible motives of the crime, one of which could be work-related but he declined to elaborate to avoid compromising the ongoing investigation.

Goforth also brushed aside public speculation it was election-related, noting that there was no information the police had obtained that would point to that end.  (FREEMAN)