The neighborhood along the periphery of CPG East Avenue, this city, was shattered with successive explosions Thursday evening with residents thinking that it was a spectacular fireworks display only to discover latter that it was a grenade attack. Since the explosive was lobbed in the direction of the ancestral home of Judge Fernando Fuentes III along CPG East Avenue (beside Pasonangka Restaurant), it was theorized that he was the target of the blast. But the supposed target was apparently clueless why he was the object of the grenade throwing incident because he was in Manila at that time it happened. In an interview with Executive Judge Suseso Arcamo, he was informed that Judge Fuentes was in Manila to follow up an order lifting his floating status as presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 49. Judge Arcamo said he had a conversation with his counterpart after the violent incident if he has any idea about who could be behind the grenade attack. Judge Fuentes told the executive judge that as far as he could remember there was no sensational case that he handled that would lead to such dastardly act.

The target judge, however recalled that three weeks ago, he affirmed the conviction of a physical injury case whose accused was convicted by the lower court. The same case which was elevated to Judge Fuentes’ sala whose conviction was affirmed including denying the motion for reconsideration, was one of the 83 cases which the judge was ordered to dispose. In an audit of court dockets, Judge Fuentes was found to have 83 backlog of cases all awaiting decision prompting the High Court to place him in a floating status to give him more time to dispose all the pending cases that clogged at Branch 49. Judge Arcamo took over the other cases pending trial in Judge Fuentes branch. As police investigators are looking into the incident, it was learned that a motorcycle riding men were believed to have thrown the grenade while passing through the judge’s house. A clue of the motive of the assault is yet to be established as investigators are still looking into the circumstances behind the grenade throwing.

POWERFUL BLAST

 A car, a KIA Carnival SUV, and owned by the judge, suffered a flat tire as a result of the explosion. It was parked in the garage found in the ground floor of the house.  The explosions must be so powerful that an office across the house was also damaged. The glass doors of Architecture Design and Construction  Services located across the street and about 12 meters away, were shattered by what police believed to be hit by the splinters of the grenade blast. An initial police report signed by P/Insp Antonio Samante of the city police station showed that forensic investigators found and “recovered 53 pieces of assorted fragments” at the crime scene. The police report also indicated that the car fuel tank was also damaged as a result of the blast causing its fuel to spill.