Metrobriefs

Bus rams tricycle, post, building in QC

A passenger bus rammed into a building after it sideswiped a tricycle and struck an electric post in Quezon City on Sunday. The police said the accident left the tricycle driver with cuts and bruises but no one else was injured. Senior Superintendent Arnold Santiago of the Quezon City Police District said the Don Mariano Transport bus (PVG 398) was traveling on Mindanao Avenue at 9:30 a.m. when it developed engine trouble. It struck a post, sideswiped a tricycle before ramming into the facade of a building at the corner of Quirino Highway. The accident snarled traffic in the area for hours. The bus was not carrying any passengers at the time of the accident, according to the police.—Nancy C. Carvajal

Scavenger killed, stuffed into box

What Sampaloc bystanders thought was a bomb in a box turned out to be something more horrific. The corpse of a man believed to be a scavenger was found inside a “balikbayan box” dumped at the corner of España and Instruccion Streets Sunday afternoon. Residents identified the corpse as that of a certain “Bert,” 30 to 40 years old, a garbage scavenger, Police Officer 3 Alonzo Layugan of the Manila Police District Homicide section said. A fellow scavenger also positively identified the victim based on a marking on his abdomen. Initial police reports showed that Bert had been strangled to death. A security guard at a nearby construction site spotted the box at around noontime and called up the police because he thought it contained explosives. Personnel of the Ordnance and Explosive Division responded to the call but when they opened the box, they found the body. The case was later turned over to the homicide section.—Jaymee T. Gamil