Grenade lobbed at residence of agriculture finance chief

COTABATO CITY -- An unidentified man lobbed a grenade at the residence of an agriculture official in the village of Rosary Heights VI here Tuesday night, police said yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief, said no one was hurt in the attack on the house of Osmeña Montañer, agriculture finance chief for Central Mindanao, at 7 p.m. Tuesday although the damage to property was estimated at P100,000.

Dangane said it was not known where Montañer and other members of the household were when an "apple-type" grenade landed on Montañer’s terrace and then exploded.

He said the assailant escaped with his accomplice-lookout on board a motorcycle.

In January, motorcycle-riding men also hurled a grenade at the Department of Agriculture regional office along Sinsuat Ave. here. The grenade however failed to explode.

Dangane said the attack might be tied to Montañer's feud with Malabang Mayor Anwar Balindong, along with four others who were facing murder raps for the killing of a Montañer relative during the 1998 elections.

Another probable angle to Tuesday’s attack could be the killing of dismissed agriculture employee-turned-journalist Marlene Esperat of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, Dangane said.

Montañer and his assistant, Estrella Sabay, at the agriculture department had been tagged as the alleged brains behind the Esperat killing. However, both denied the charges made by two of the arrested now under detention.

Dangane said the latest decision of the Court of Appeals granting a temporary restraining order for the arrest of Montañer and Sabay "could also be looked into as one of the probable causes for the grenade attack."