ROXAS CITY, Philippines—An improvised explosive device found Monday morning in Barangay (village) Lawaan in Roxas City creaed fear among residents in the area, including the nuns from the Carmelite Monastery.
Superintendent Khasmir Disomangcop, Roxas police chief, said they were informed about the presence of a suspected explosive by Danilo Alcorano, 54, a resident living near the Carmelite Monastery in the same village.
While he was sweeping the ground outside his house, Alcorano found a box adjacent to the house of Romeo Binibini that contained a Nokia cellular phone and a contraption with a suspicious substance.
Senior Inspector Ramil Entereso, the police chief of nearby Sapian town and a bomb expert, defused the improvised explosive.
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Entereso said the improvised bomb contained C4 plastic explosive, scrap iron and gun powder. He explained that the explosive would have blown up if the cellular phone inside the box was called.
Binibini told the police that they have lived in the barangay for quite sometime and that they did not have known enemies.
Disomangcop said police already had a suspect whom they would not name yet.
However, based on police records, Binibini’s 18-year-old son, Russel, was shot several times allegedly by a certain Medelio Manahan, a member of the Philippine Air Force in the early morning of Sept. 4, 2011.
A criminal complaint of frustrated homicide was filed against Manahan at the Roxas City Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the elder Binibini, Medelio tried to persuade the victim’s family to agree to an amicable settlement, but they refused.