Grenade explodes during gang fight in Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Three persons, one of them a passerby, were injured when a fragmentation grenade exploded during an apparent gang fight along Quezon Boulevard here, around 4:45 a.m. on New Year's day. Sr. Supt. Norberto Batislaong, provincial director of the North Cotabato PNP, identified the wounded as Roger Bonggay Occenid, 43, and Dumama Palandas Bagundang, 18, both residents of Lapu-Lapu St., here; and Jonard Adorador Dulmatico, 24, of Barangay Makalangot in Arakan, North Cotabato. All victims were rushed to the Kidapawan Doctors Hospital for treatment. Insp. Benjamin Mauricio, chief of the anti-vice and investigation division of the Kidapawan City PNP, said two of the victims identified as Occenia and Bagundang were members of a gang that was involved in a fight with another group of teenagers while having a drinking spree in one of the barbecue stalls here. On the other hand, Dulmatico was driving his motorcycle on his way home when the grenade went off. Occenia was hit in the stomach; Bagundang and Dulmatico were hit in their lower extremities, according to reports from Marlon Ceballos of the 505 Search and Rescue Group of Kidapawan City. Mauricio said the grenade throwing incident was not related to previous explosions that have rocked North Cotabato. “This was purely personal grudge in nature. Two groups were fighting over something. We’re still finding out what it was all about," said Mauricio. Mauricio’s report was corroborated by a statement made by Rogelio Failma, security guard assigned at the Kasapid Enterprises. Failma told media here that he saw a group of males running after another group of males, most of them teenagers. When they reached the store, somebody lobbed a grenade which exploded. Today’s grenade explosion was the second to hit North Cotabato since Christmas Day. On December 25, an improvised explosive device (IED) planted in the rear portion of a parked hauler truck owned by businessman Eddie Untalan in Carmen, North Cotabato, went off. Nobody was hurt during the explosion. Sr. Insp. Winston Seniel, chief of the Carmen Police, said a few days before the explosion, a group identified as Al Khobar was extorting some P1 million from Untalan. Five days later, a roving village guard in Poblacion, also in Carmen, recovered an IED planted in one of the towers of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). The wiring in the bomb malfunctioned so it failed to explode, said Seniel. Police also hinted that extortion was behind the incident. - GMANews.TV