Vintage bomb found at IT park

CEBU, Philippines – A World War II live vintage bomb was recovered from a construction site at the Asia Town IT Park on Thursday when a construction worker accidentally hit it with a backhoe.

It was security guard Ferdinand Estokoling noticed the live vintage bomb at around 4:30 p.m. and immediately reported the incident to the Central Command office.

The Explosive Ordnance Division (EOD) of CentCom responded to the area and carefully extracted the 1,000-pound explosive device from a swampy portion of the construction site.

Maj. Christopher Tampus said the construction was temporarily stopped after the bomb was discovered by one of the workers and reported the incident to their office. CentCom chief, Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva immediately dispatched six personnel to the site to recover the bomb.

According to Maj. Reynold Parino of the EOD, who headed the team, the recovered bomb was an "aerial bomb," which was possibly dropped by an aircraft during World War II. He said it could easily be detonated with friction and exposure to heat.

If it explodes, Tampus said "anybody caught within the 1.6 radius will be killed," and it can reach up to 3 kilometers from ground zero.

Parino said their next move is to dispose the bomb in the province of Iloilo.

According to Tampus, CentCom is currently coordinating with their naval counterpart to assist them in transferring the 1,000-pound bomb to their Iloilo facility where it will be safely detonated.

"We have to coordinate with the Navy since we have to carry this safely to Iloilo kung asa namo pabuthon," he added.

The live vintage bomb is now under the custody of the EOD where other vintage bombs are also being cordoned and secured. - Ria Mae Y. Booc and Ryan Christopher Sorote, USJR Mass Communication intern/WAB (FREEMAN)