THE residents of barangay Looc, Mandaue City can now sleep better at night after the military removed 385 World War II vintage bombs from a scrapyard in their area at past 6 a.m yesterday.
The vintage bombs stockpiled in the scrapyard of Tin Guan Trading Co. in barangay Looc, were loaded by explosives ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel into two dump trucks provided by Mandaue City Hall.
The trucks were accompanied by a convoy of eight vehicles consisting of a fire truck, ambulance, police and military vehicles as they made their way to the Mandaue reclamation area and sped towards the mining site in Toledo City.
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams from the cities of Mandaue and Cebu City, an EOD team from the Central Command (Centcom) and a team from the Firearms and Explosives Division (FED) accompanied the convoy to Toledo City.
On reaching the mining site of the Carmen Copper Corp., the bombs were slowly off-loaded by personnel and brought directly to a warehouse marked “Package Explosives Magazines” some distance away from an office building.
Capt. Noel Frias of the Centcom’s Ordnance Division said the area is far from the populace.
Supt. James Goforth, chief of operations of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), said they started loading the bombs at 5 p.m last Wednesday.
Goforth said Camp Crame will provide the detonating materials after they relayed their request to their national office.
Tin Guan Trading Corp. said they are willing to extend assistance to help dispose the bombs.
Mandaue City Administrator James Abadia said the military and police have yet to request them for assistance.
“We are still open in case they need our help,” Abadia said.