C4 component detected from Makati blast site

By Ronron
October 20, 2007

Chemical experts from the Philippine National Police (PNP) have detected RDX or Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine from the blast site in Makati City, said to be the main component of C4 explosives.

But authorities would not immediately conclude that the bomb used during Friday’s deadly explosion at the Glorietta 2 Mall was a C4 or TNT (trinitrotoluene) or dynamite, which also contains RDX.

“Early this morning, we have completed the initial screening and color testing (on the swabs) and the result was RDX was possibly used,” PNP Crime Laboratory Director Chief Supt. Arturo Cacdac said during Saturday morning’s National Security Council and Anti-Terrorism Task Force meeting at Camp Crame, Quezon City, presided over by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Chief Insp. Grace Eustaquio, head of the Crime Laboratory’s Chemistry Division who was also at the meeting, described RDX as the main component of C4.

“It’s a high explosive and as such, the extent of the damage it can cause is really tremendous,” she said, bolstering the dismissal of the PNP of the LPG tank explosion angle that was floated as a possibility immediately after the blast.

Philippine Bomb Data Center (PBDC) chief Sr. Supt. Alberto Ferro said at the meeting that based on their 2005 and 2006 data, “we could presume that those (RDX and C4) are military ordnance components.”

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. admitted that the RDX and C4 are “controlled items” but was quick to appeal that people should not immediately conclude the bomb used last Friday came from the military.

“We could not pinpoint at anybody yet. It’s only the ingredients we have. I don’t think its proper this time to pinpoint to any person,” Esperon said.

Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza, a former PNP chief, shared during the meeting that the bombs used in the Superferry 14 and Davao incidents a few years back may be “high explosives” but the perpetrators were not from the military.

Mendoza said miners also use C4 in their operations.

“It’s available not only to the military but it can be availed of also commercially. Just because it is of military grade does not mean that only the military has access to it,” National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said for his part.

Ferro’s deputy, Chief Insp. Reynold Rosero, had earlier said that they will also seek to gather other pieces of evidence from the blast site, such as switching materials and wirings, if any.

PNP chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. and Gonzales said determining the type of bomb used could help authorities in determining those responsible for the explosion.

At the same time, they are reviewing the video footage from Glorietta 2, particularly those taken near the blast site, to check on the person who could have brought in the explosive.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Geary Barias had said that the seat of the explosion is the stockroom of Luk Yuen noodle house, shared also by three other restaurants, located at the ground floor of Glorietta 2, along West Drive Street.

Razon said the police is offering P2 million in reward to any person who can help identify the perpetrators. Makati City Councilor Jejomar Binay, Jr. said the Makati City government is also willing to offer another P1 million.

But he said they are now conducting counter-checking on the existing list of terrorists in the country for their possible entry and activity in Metro Manila.

“We have heightened our intelligence sharing and monitoring together with our foreign counterparts, and increased police visibility… And the (PNP’s Anti-Terrorism Unit) Task Force Sanlahi is directed to be on the lookout for possible arrest of suspects,” Razon said.

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), in an interview on radio DZMM of one of its self-proclaimed commander in Basilan, denied involvement in the latest bombing, saying they are too hot to be able to escape from the military operations there.

“It is not true that we have placed bombs in the different parts of the country, especially the bomb there where the suspect allegedly is the ASG. We are very hot here in Basilan so we are just hiding in the mountains. We have not mobilized some members to go there,” a certain Commander Not told DZMM in Filipino in a phone interview yesterday afternoon.

He also said they have no members currently in Metro Manila.

“We are preoccupied in defending our territory here… We are just in the mountains, and are very far. And there are too many Marines here so we can not just roam around, much more go to Manila,” Not said.

Gonzales said that while the incident is a “terrorist act,” he could not categorically say that it is a “terrorist attack” because no one has claimed or been blamed for it yet. As such, they are not yet sure now if the anti-terrorism law can be applied.

“We cannot say it’s a terrorist attack. One of the requirements is that there has to be clear demand from government of the perpetrator. And we haven’t received anything like that yet,” he said.

Razon said the police in Metro Manila will maintain to be on full alert status, as the National Capital Region Command of the AFP, while the rest in the country will be on heightened level to thwart any possible repeat of said incident.

Around 6,000 police and military forces are now spread all over Metro Manila to secure the public, said Razon. On top of that, the military has just accepted the 48th Infantry Battalion from Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija to augment the existing forces at present.

“We are maintaining the highest alert in the NCR because I think we have to assume that the threat of another bombing is possible. I hope we are not unnecessarily alarming our public but the alert level is such that it’s still very high,” Gonzales said, referring to the EXTREME-HIGH terrorism threat level./DMS