Improvised explosive device found in Cotabato City disarmed—police

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—An improvised explosive device (IED) discovered on a street here on Monday was disarmed by authorities, the police said on Tuesday.

Senior Supt. Roberto Badian, city police chief, said the IED was fashioned from a 90 mm mortar shell attached to a mobile phone that would supposedly serve as a triggering device.

Badian said the IED was discovered near a concrete plant box on Gutierrez St. by a tricycle driver, who alerted members of the joint police-military task force.

City Administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, who used to pass by Gutierrez Ave. that prior to the discovery of the IED, she had been receiving death threats on her mobile phone, warning her that her days are numbered.

Sayadi lives a few blocks from where the IED was found.

“Madame, be careful because you might be shocked of what will happen,” Sayadi said, quoting one of the text messages, all written in Filipino.

Another message warned her to be careful of “people around her,” saying they will sow havoc and terror any time.

She said some of the text messages bore the senders’ names, “but I have yet to verify its authenticity.”

But Sayadi said the threats could be meant for her brother, Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani, because of his campaign to rid the city of illegal terminals, illegal gambling and drugs.