Gated village lot yields bag of grenades
A bag containing four grenades was found in a vacant lot in Caloocan City on Tuesday night, alarming residents of Franville V subdivision in Barangay 172. Police Officer 2 Ramon Tagibulos of Caloocan police Station 5 said the “live” explosives were discovered by two village watchmen who were making their rounds around 10:30 p.m. Investigators could only surmise that the grenades were not meant to be detonated on site but were merely dropped off in the area, possibly by a robbery gang.—Kristine Felisse Mangunay
‘Notorious’ Tondo street claims resident
A man on his way home on a motorcycle was shot and stabbed dead by unidentified suspects on a street “notorious” for muggings and robberies in Tondo, Manila, before dawn Wednesday. Accounts gathered by police said Ryan Bautista, 28, though already wounded, was initially able to flee the attack and cry to his fellow residents in Magsaysay Village for help. But he later fell off his bike and was found slumped on the pavement near the corner of J.P. Rizal and Bonifacio streets around 2:30 a.m. Residents who came to Bautista’s aid rushed him to the Tondo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. Senior Police Officer 2 Virgo Villareal of the Manila Police District Homicide Section said “the area is notorious for holdup (incidents). He was probably (targeted) as he was turning the corner, then shot and stabbed when he tried to fight back.”—Jaymee T. Gamil
‘Gay’ found beaten to death
A 21-year-old man was found dead, his head severely bashed and his left arm twisted behind his back, on the sidewalk of Oroquieta Street in Sta. Cruz, Manila, before dawn Wednesday. Investigators said Mateo Vicente, a resident of Yakal Street in the neighboring Tondo district, suffered a blow to the right temple and a broken left arm. He still had a little brown purse slung across his body when found, which police said contained beauty products like a blush-on, face powder, and pink bottles of cologne, leading them to assume that the victim was gay. “No one could say (how the victim was killed) because there were no witnesses. No one even knew why he was there,” said the case investigator, Senior Police Officer 2 Virgo Villareal. Vicente’s body was first found by Eduardo Dayo, a watchman of Barangay 366, Zone 37, at around 4:30 a.m.—Jaymee T. Gamil