Police probe grenade blast at Negros Oriental mayor's house

POLICE are conducting an investigation to identify the culprits in the grenade-throwing incident Tuesday night, May 29, at the residence of Bacong, Negros Oriental Mayor Jocelyn Alviola and husband Vice Mayor Lenin Alviola.

The police, headed by Police Senior Inspector Luis Lakandula, have in their custody a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage that could help in the investigation, while the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is conducting its own.

Initial probe showed that around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, riding-in-tandem men lobbed what was believed to be a fragmentation grenade at the garage. The grenade exploded at the parked Montero vehicle of the Alviolas.

The vehicle was damaged.

The mayor’s pregnant daughter-in-law, Diane Jane Justiniani Alviola, 30, who was sitting at the porch about five meters from the explosion site, was also hit by shrapnels. She sustained burns in her right neck, arm, leg, and foot.

Diane Jane said she only heard of the blast while she was talking to somebody on the phone.

Two shrapnels also hit the sala set at the porch area.

The mayor and vice mayor were already at the master’s bedroom when the incident happened.

Mayor Alviola said she could not think of anybody who may have the reason to do it to them. She has been in politics for many decades and she has not received threats ever since.

She said personal feud is “totally out of the picture” but does not discount the possibility of politics angle, because many have ambitions to become mayor of Bacong.

Before the explosion, the mayor had visitors from barangays, including village councilmen and a barangay captain.

A councilwoman, who refused to be named, said she saw a man, whom she could not identify, at the vicinity of Alviolas’ house.

A witness who just came from a basketball game also said that she noticed a motorcycle, with the driver and backrider covering their faces with T-shirts.

The men then slowed down in front of the mayor’s residence and lobbed the grenade before fleeing. (PNA)