Grenade fails to explode in Guagua (Sun.Star, Saturday, July 21, 2007)

Grenade fails to explode in Guagua

By Ian Ocampo Flora

GUAGUA -- A grenade thrown by still unidentified individuals in front of the house of an American citizen here on Wednesday failed to explode and injure its intended victims.

The Alfa MK-2 fragmentation grenade landed at the terrace of Willam Montemayor, 56, of Purok 2, Barangay Natividad.

Police said the perpetrators took advantage of the rains and the power interruption on Wednesday night to throw the grenade near Montemayor's room.

The intended victim's house is located along a barangay road, which made it easy for the perpetrators to target him with a grenade. The grenade, however, failed to detonate.

Montemayor's housemate, who first mistook the grenade for a toy, discovered it at 7 a.m. the next day and alerted Guagua Councilor Rely Manalang, who later contacted police authorities.

Guagua Police Chief Wilson Santos VI said the grenade was not an ordinary one.

"It is a standard issue in the military," Santos said.

He said it was fortunate that the grenade did not explode and was unable to injure any of the five residents of the house. Motemayor was to leave for the US when the grenade was found.

"We are looking for possible leads and making a background check on Montemayor. We are looking at the people affiliated with him and his other affairs," Santos said.

However, Montemayor had already left for America, leaving officials here having difficulty establishing a clear motive on the case.

As of this writing, there are no indications if Montemayor would still be coming back.

"It would be a great help to us if Mr. Montemayor would return to the Philippines. I would want to talk to him personally to better establish a motive for the case," Santos added.

Guagua and Provincial Mobile Group policemen responded to the scene at 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The grenade was detonated in a vacant lot 200 meters away from the house of Montemayor.