Blast hits QC home of top construction firm CEO

QUEZON City police secure the blast site on Scout Fuentebella Street. RAFFY LERMA

A grenade was lobbed at the house of a top official of one of the country’s largest and most prominent construction firms on Wednesday morning, causing an explosion that resulted in some property damage but no deaths or injuries.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Supt. Richard Albano said the blast, caused by an MK-II fragmentation grenade, was apparently meant to scare Reynaldo Fuentes, F. F. Cruz and Co., Inc. chief executive officer (CEO).

“He received no threats prior to the incident. He was the target and the motive was most likely personal,” Albano added although he did not give additional details.

According to him, Fuentes has an idea of who may be behind the grenade attack, giving police investigators a solid lead to work on.

Albano said Fuentes was appointed CEO of F. F. Cruz and Co., Inc. in June after the death of the company’s founder. Before that, he was the president of another construction company. As CEO, Fuentes was also offered the presidency although he declined the post.

The grenade was lobbed at 6 a.m. yesterday at the garage of Fuentes’ house on Scout Fuentebella in Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City.

According to a report of the QCPD Kamuning station, a housemaid said she heard something fall inside the garage, apparently lobbed by someone standing outside the tall iron gates.

She saw smoke coming out of the object and escaped injury because she took cover before it exploded. The shrapnel from the explosive, however, slightly damaged the back of two vehicles parked inside the garage—a white Toyota Fortuner and a brown Honda Jazz—as well as the gate and garage ceiling.

SPO2 Joselito Fernandez of the QCPD Explosives and Ordnance Division said they were able to retrieve parts of the MK-II fragmentation grenade inside the garage. Its safety ring was found right outside the gate.

F. F. Cruz and Co., Inc. was formed almost six decades ago by businessman and construction pioneer Felipe F. Cruz. He passed away in May at the age of 93.

The company started out as a small surveying firm before it became one of the country’s leading companies in the construction industry. Among its projects were key government infrastructure works, including the C-5 Ortigas Avenue extension interchange and Edsa-Kamias-Timog interchange.