Police release carpenter in grenade blast

POLICE released the carpenter who was with a man who died after a grenade exploded in his hands during a police chase in barangay Talamban, Cebu City.

Senior Insp. Michael Angelo Beltran, chief of the Talamban police precinct, said they found no basis to hold 62-year-old Virgilio Maquiling, a carpenter from Cebu City.

Maquiling was one of the four men who were chased by police in sitio Tigbao last Thursday noon.

Faustino Navarro Jr. was killed during the incident when the grenade he tried to lob at chasing policeman exploded in his hand.

Police went to the area after a concerned citizen tipped them off about the presence of suspected armed men.

When the policemen arrived, four men scampered away, but one of them who identified later as Navarro was trapped in subdivision fence.

Navarro pulled out a grenade and removed the pin. But when he was about to throw it at the police, he slipped and the grenade exploded in his hand.

While the two other escaped, Maquiling was arrested and brought to the Talamban police precinct for investigation.

Maquiling told police that he was working on a signage with his relative Marvin Pasique in Talamban area on Thursday when Navarro arrived and helped them in their work.

Maquiling said Navarro invited them for lunch and he obliged.

Beltran said Maquiling claimed Navarro brought him to the vacant lot in sitio Tigbao because Navarro wanted use drugs.

Beltran said the drug transaction was ongoing when the police arrived./CORRESPONDENTS JHUNNEX NAPALLACAN AND CHITO O. ARAGON