GRENADE FOUND. The site where a fragmentation grenade was found by a tricycle driver beside a yellow cement mixer in the road undergoing repairs some 15 meters from the entrance of the municipal gymnasium of Alamada, North Cotabato on Wednesday (July 8, 2020). Police investigators say the explosive was not meant to disrupt the Social Amelioration Program cash dispersal as its safety pin remained intact. (Photo courtesy of Alamada MPS)
COTABATO CITY – The discovery of a fragmentation grenade has briefly interrupted the distribution of the government's Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in Alamada, North Cotabato on Wednesday, the local police reported.
Major Sunny Leoncito, Alamada police chief, said the discovered MK-2 fragmentation grenade was apparently not intended to harm SAP beneficiaries affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis.
Tricycle driver Jason Cervantes, 24, of Barangay Kitacubong, noticed the grenade around 10 a.m. beside the road near the town gymnasium where the SAP distribution was then taking place.
Police quickly sealed off the area and called the police bomb disposal unit, while bomb disposal experts took custody of the grenade.
Leoncito said the grenade, found about 15 meters from the gymnasium entrance, cannot explode as its safety lever was intact and its hammer wrapped with black electrical tape.
“It was not meant to disrupt the distribution of SAP or harm anyone, maybe a soldier or police personnel unintentionally dropped the grenade,” Leoncito said. He added the dispersal of assistance was temporarily stopped but immediately resumed and completed.
The distribution facilitated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development has benefited some 3,000 individuals from the town’s various villages. (PNA)
