Cotabato construction site yields vintage bombs

RUSTY YET DANGEROUS. A total of 33 unexploded ordnance were found by construction workers digging a drainage canal in Midsayap, Cotabato province Wednesday afternoon. (PNP photo)

COTABATO CITY–Authorities have confirmed that the vintage bombs discovered in Midsayap town, Cotabato province on Wednesday are still active even as these were already rusty.

Lt. Col. Rolly C. Oranza, Midsayap municipal police station chief, said 33 unexploded ordnance were discovered by bomb experts after a construction worker initially found an unexploded 60mm mortar round beside the highway in Barangay Sadaan where a drainage canal was being built.

Oranza said road construction workers scampered for safety after one of them unearthed what looked like an explosive.

Upon seeing one, workers quickly alerted the Midsayap police personnel who also informed the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion stationed in the town.

Members of the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team found 32 more rusty explosives that they described as “old, rusty but remain active.”

Oranza said 25 of the explosives are 60mm mortar rounds, and eight are 81mm mortar rounds.

The area where the explosives were found was once a detachment of the defunct Philippine Constabulary.

Oranza said the explosives are now in the custody of 34th IB for safekeeping and eventual disposal.

“We appeal to the public, diggers included, not to tinker with suspected explosives unearthed during construction works to save lives,” Oranza said.

/MUF