MANILA, Philippines—Authorities recovered an improvised explosive device in the compound of the Department of Agriculture in Quezon City on Monday, a day after a bomb exploded at the compound of the Office of the Ombudsman a few kilometers away.

Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego, chief of the Quezon City Police District, said investigators are not discounting the possibility that the same suspects were behind the two incidents.

"Posibleng sabay dapat yun pero hindi pumutok yung sa DA (It’s possible that the two should explode simultaneously except that in the DA did not explode)," San Diego said at a press conference.

Both IEDs were "commercial grade," meaning these were made from materials readily available in the market, including matchsticks and electrical tape, San Diego said.

The IED was recovered around 8 a.m. near the DA gate.

On Sunday, an IED exploded around 5 a.m. in the compound of the Office of the Ombudsman. No one was hurt in the incident, but the explosion created a three-foot deep crater.

San Diego said that the motive of the suspects was possibly "to create damage and not to harm" because the incident occurred early Sunday morning.

He added that the incident could be caused by a "disgruntled respondent" at the Ombudsman.

Because of this, the entire Quezon City police has been placed on heightened alert status, as security has been intensified in the different government offices in the city.

At the same time, a special investigating task group headed by San Diego has been formed to look into the two incidents.

The task group will be consisting of the Metro Manila Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Intelligence Group, and the Crime Laboratory.