BOMB THREAT Police and military antibomb personnel rush to the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, after a motorcycle is found abandoned in front of the Army gym on Wednesday morning. —Joan Bondoc
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Army said it was still trying to determine why a motorcycle with traces of an explosive was abandoned in front of its gymnasium in Taguig City on Wednesday morning.
The discovery of the red motorcycle with plate number 4540NN prompted authorities to cordon off the area, causing a huge traffic buildup that lasted over two hours and left motorists stewing inside their vehicles.
There were earlier reports that the incident was part of a security drill for President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on Monday. However, this was denied by Col. Ramon Zagala, the Army spokesperson.
The discovery of the motorcycle, Zagala said, was a matter of concern that the Philippine Army wanted to get to the bottom of.
“The reason why the motorcycle was abandoned there is certainly a cause of concern [to] us,” he pointed out, adding that the Army had a particular interest in discovering the perpetrator’s motive.
Army’s assurance
“We will support the investigation of the Philippine National Police as to who abandoned the motorcycle. Rest assured that your Philippine Army will always be on guard and we enjoin our citizens to remain vigilant and report such suspicious activities to the authorities,” he said.
The two-wheeled vehicle was found around 11:30 a.m. outside Gate 2 of the Army’s Wellness Center near the corner of Lawton Avenue and Bayani Road in Fort Bonifacio, the Philippine Army’s headquarters.
“As part of precautionary measures, soldiers from the military police battalion immediately cordoned [off] the area while military working dogs of the K9 battalion were deployed to determine if there [were] explosives attached to the said motorcycle,” Zagala said.
“In compliance [with] protocol, the Explosives and Ordnance (EOD) unit of the PNP and Philippine Army conducted water disruption on the motorcycle as soon as the bomb-sniffing dogs indicated that traces of explosives may be present. There was no explosion as a result of the water disruption,” he added.
He told the Inquirer that based on the PNP’s initial investigation, the traces of explosive that the dogs detected could have been transferred onto the motorcycle through touch, after the rider had direct contact with explosive materials.
According to Col. Alexander Santos, the Taguig City police chief, the South Police District’s EOD unit used “a small amount of explosive to open the [vehicle’s] compartment” after conducting an X-ray of the motorcycle.
Positive presence
This was after their counterparts from the Army EOD deployed two bomb-sniffing dogs which sat near the vehicle, indicating the “positive presence of [an] explosive.”
However, the motorcycle was found “negative [for] any bomb compartments or hazardous materials.”
The area in front of the gym was reopened to motorists around 2 p.m.