MANILA, Philippines ? The ?suspicious-looking package? that was found on Monday morning beside an electrical post near a condominium on Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, contained half a pound of C-4, a plastic explosive usually used by the military.

This was the gist of a police report submitted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) which conducted an investigation into the discovery of the package at One Burgundy Place in Loyola Heights village.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was addressed to QCPD director Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego.

The police report added that the bomb which was found at the grounds of the Department of Agriculture, also on Monday, likewise contained C-4.

Both bombs, however, were not designed to go off because they did not have blasting caps, the report said.

The discovery of the two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) came a day after a bomb went off at the Office of the Ombudsman, causing minor damage but no injuries.

The police report, meanwhile, was confirmed by the head of the QCPD Explosives and Ordnance Division, which conducted a technical analysis of the IEDs.

?The explosives found near the condominium building were similar to the bomb found at the Department of Agriculture,? Senior Inspector Arnulfo Franco told the Inquirer yesterday.

Franco, however, refused to comment on the possible motives of the people who planted the bombs although he said that the IEDs were not meant to explode because they lacked several components.

?This shows that whoever were behind these, they did not mean to injure people and wanted only to cause panic or fear,? he added.

But at the same time he stressed that the bombs could have still gone off and caused serious injuries to people standing within a 30-feet range.

?C-4 is a very sensitive substance. It can explode when exposed to high heat,? Franco explained.

San Diego, in a press conference on Monday, said that he has placed his men on heightened alert status and that security has been tightened on all government offices in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Tuesday expressed confidence that the bomb-related incidents were not part of a rumored plot to sow fear among the public even as it even downgraded its alert level to normal status.

?We have downgraded the alert level to normal effective yesterday, except in Mindanao,? said Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman.

?There is no factual basis for us to connect these bombing incidents with any destabilization plot that is being speculated,? he added.

?There?s no need to panic. We?re on top of the situation ? The PNP is trying its best to get to the bottom of this case and determine who are behind these bombs,? Espina said.

For its part, Malacañang dismissed reports of a fresh destabilization plot, saying these were being floated by rightist-leftist groups in the run-up to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s State of the Nation Address (Sona).

?These are agit-props [agitation propaganda] for mobilization in the upcoming Sona,? Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said in a briefing.

?These groups wanted to show that [the planting of the bombs] was the handiwork of the military or police. That?s why the intelligence community thinks this is scripted, and that this was designed to project [the idea] that the President would want to hang on to power by declaring martial law or by [scrapping the] elections,? he said.

?In all these talks about martial law, may I invite everybody to [look at] the constitutional provision and requirements on declaring martial law ? Martial law as an option is not really worth considering by any right thinking leader or president,? he said.