5 hurt as grenade goes off along Edsa

Five people were injured after a grenade went off Monday night in the Cubao area on Edsa, Quezon City, an explosion that the police suspect may be linked to a brawl which occurred earlier in the day at a nearby apartelle.

Three of the injured were passengers of a Nafti Bus which was passing by the area when the blast took place. They were identified as Manuel Melano, 26; Nino Espino, 24; and Catherine Esquivel, 36.

Melano hurt his right arm while Espino suffered cuts on his right shoulder. Esquivel, on the other hand, sustained cuts on her right cheek.

A vendor, 26-year-old Rommel Simporios, hurt his back when the grenade went off as he was resting on the sidewalk. He remains confined at East Avenue Medical Center.

Also injured was Felicidad Orencio, 21 who was hit by pieces of shrapnel in the right knee as she and her boyfriend were walking in the area.

The explosion broke six of the bus’ windows and left two of its tires flat. It also damaged the steel door of a nearby establishment and left a six-inch-wide hole on the road, according to Insp. Noel Sublay, chief of the Quezon City Police District’s Explosives and Ordnance Division.

Bomb experts also recovered the safety lever of a hand grenade some 14 feet away from the crater as well as fragments of the explosive.

Kamuning police station commander Supt. Marcelino Pedrozo said the grenade which was thrown by still unidentified persons around 9 p.m. on Edsa exploded in front of the Everest Lumber Hardware store.

He added that they had invited for questioning three men who were involved in a brawl in the area earlier in the day.

Pedrozo named the three as William Balasbas, Romeo Madilar and Romnick Intia although he was quick to add that they were not yet considered suspects.

The three were brought to the Kamuning police station at dawn on Monday after they figured in a fight at an apartelle in the area.

Based on police reports, Intia, Madilar and a third man who has yet to be identified went into the establishment with several women but they got into an argument with a male pimp, prompting them to leave.

As they stepped outside the apartelle, Balasbas—who worked as a room boy at the establishment, tried to intervene but they turned on him, leading to a fist fight.