Metro Manila, Philippines – Authorities are investigating two suspected improvised explosive devices planted near the Senate of the Philippines and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday, July 27, just before the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address.
At 12:17 a.m. on Monday, a suspected improvised device exploded near the entrance of the DOJ building along Padre Faura street in Ermita, Manila.
“There are no reported casualties, and the Philippine National Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit was immediately notified and responded to conduct a technical examination,” the agency said.
At 8:13 a.m., an employee of a towing company spotted a suspicious package along Diokno Boulevard just outside of the Senate building and shouted “May bomba! May bomba!”
[Translation: There’s a bomb! There’s a bomb!]
Police were alerted and began probing the scene at 8:23 a.m. Authorities recovered the device and said it had a “positive result for the presence of explosive components/materials.”
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team declared the area safe at around 8:40 a.m.
In a chance interview with reporters, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Alfred Corpus said the package was just 150 meters away from the Senate gate. It was a box of skyflakes containing wires, a battery, a clock, and a commercial plastic cap dropped behind a towing truck.
Senate President Win Gatchalian condemned the incident and called it an “apparent attempt to sow fear near the Senate on the very day our institutions gather for the State of the Nation Address.”
“No such act of intimidation will distract the Senate from its work for the Filipino people,” Gatchalian said.
Marcos will deliver his fifth SONA at 4 p.m. on Monday, July 27.
