Government military troops recovered a vintage bomb weighing around 1,000 pounds in Isabela City, Basilan, the Philippine Army said on Sunday.
The Philippine Army’s 16th Special Forces Company and the Philippine National Police’s Explosives and Ordnance Team found the vintage bomb in Barangay Isabela Proper.
Joint Task Force Basilan commander Colonel Domingo Gobway said a civilian accidentally discovered the bomb.
“A 1,000 pounds vintage bomb was accidentally discovered by a civilian backhoe operator in Legaspi St. yesterday (October 3),” he said.
“The EOD teams of the military and the police conducted proper evaluation and assessment of the vintage bomb, after which it was brought to the 4th Special Forces Battalion headquarters in Barangay Cabunbata while waiting for the approval for proper disposal,” Gobway said.
“We are still waiting for the report from the EOD team as to the classification of the vintage bomb. Nevertheless, let us practice alertness and vigilance at all times,” he added.
Western Mindanao Command commander, Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan Jr., meanwhile said they are awaiting EOD’s report on the classification of the bomb.
In January, police and military forces recovered 11 vintage bombs from an elementary school campus in Bukidnon.
At the school, workers discovered the 60-mm mortars during the construction of a stage in Tumaras Elementary School in Kibawe town.
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Vintage bomb explosion
Meanwhile, in March, a civil engineer was killed after a vintage bomb exploded while he saw it using an electric steel grinder in Barangay Maligo in Polomolok town, Cotabato.
According to Lt. Col. Marvin Duadua, chief of the Polomolok Municipal Police, the explosion took place at the victim’s friend’s home, where he was overseeing an infrastructure project.
The explosion occurred after Degula carried the said bomb with Winnie Fundar and Pastor Moses Villar to a friend Joseph Namion, a mechanic, to open the rusty bomb.
A few minutes later, the victim went into his car and grabbed a grinder.
The engineer pushed through despite the warnings from friends that the bomb could explode and attempted to cut off the bomb until it exploded.