Catbalogan blast: 2 men on motorbike hunted

CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, Palo, Leyte – The Police Regional Office is investigating the two explosions that rocked Catbalogan City last March and injured a teen-ager and a child.

Supt. Edwin Barbosa, Catbalogan police chief, said an improvised explosive device was thrown at the fence of Ma. Elfa de Jesus’ house at 1:30 in the morning. The blast injured Faith Rosales, 17, who was waiting for a ride nearby, and BJ Gacuma Bernate, 6, who was sleeping outside her house several meters away.

The two were treated for slight injuries in their arms at the Samar Provincial Hospital and were declared out of danger.

Twenty minutes later a grenade exploded inside the yard of the house of Lucio Bacarra Pacle in Barangay Silanga, damaging the house and his Mitsubishi Pajero.

Police probers are checking witnesses’ accounts pointing to two men in black jackets and bonnets on a black motorcycle as being behind the two explosions.

The investigators were not discounting the possibility that the two blasts were perpetrated by the same suspects.

Chief Supt Elmer C Beltejar, regional police director, said a special investigation task group has been created to investigate the incident.