Glass windows, car damaged in blast in Makati City

MANILA, Philippines—Several glass windows of two buildings and a car were damaged after an explosion rocked a vacant lot in Salcedo Village, Makati City, Monday afternoon.

No one was injured in the blast, which happened at 1:45 p.m. in a vacant lot on HV de la Costa Street, the police said.

Fragments from the improvised explosive device poked holes in several glass windows on the sixth and seventh floor of the Salcedo Park Condominium, which is located beside the lot. Also damaged were several glass panels on the ground floor of the nearby Classico 1 Building.

The rear window of a black Subaru sedan parked beside the vacant lot was also shattered.

The Makati police chief, Superintendent Jaime Santos, said the cause of the explosion had yet to be determined.

“We have recovered a number of fragments in the site and in buildings adjacent to it but we need to do an in-depth investigation to determine what exploded, the purpose of the explosion, and most likely suspects,” he told reporters at the scene.

The investigation will be conducted by the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory and the Explosive and Ordnance Division, which will reconstruct the explosive.

Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said the explosion was probably intended to frighten rather than harm anyone since it was done in a vacant lot during a holiday.

“[There is] no cause for alarm as all government agencies are jointly exerting efforts to resolve the case,” he added.—With Dona Pazzibugan