Investigators remain mum as to the possible motive in last Tuesday’s bombing of the residence of the late top notch lawyer Alexander Lim, a city councilor, who handled several cases related to drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, lawyer Aleck Francis “Koykoy” Lim, begged off to issue public statement as fear still grips their family.
The grenade thrown at Lim’s residence along F. Rocha st last Tuesday dawn came barely four days after the arrest of Geovanni Orenia, the prime suspect in the murder of radio blocktimer, businessman Engr. Maurito Lim. The suspect was a stay-in worker who turned out to be a hired killer who finished radio blocktimer, businessman “Chairman Mau”who was gunned down in cold blood last Valentine’s Day while he was parking his Isuzu Crosswind in front of station DYRD.
Provincial Intelligence Branch chief, Police Senior Inspector Jojit Mananquil said investigators could not also discount the possibility that the incident has something to do with the arrest of the murder suspect Orenia—a stay-in employee of the late city councilor.
This coincided with the classified information that sympathizers must have vented ire on the late councilor’s family after news broke out that one of the employees staying with them turned out to be the gunman in the murder of a radio blocktimer.
A loud sound of explosion woke up the neighborhood along F. Rocha St., this city at around 2 a.m. on March 10 which investigators later traced to a fragmented hand grenade lobbed at the house of the late councilor.
The late councilor used to be the legal counsel of Orenia when the latter was charged of illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and explosives in 2013 in Talibon.
Orenia’s application for a probation had been approved and supposedly took effect this month, but his latest cases on drug peddling and murder of a radio blocktimer again landed him in jail.
During the incident on Tuesday last week, the responding team from the city police station found out that a K926 pineapple type or a fragmentation grenade exploded on the left gutter of the garage roofing inside the compound of the late councilor’s residence.
As a result, the said explosion caused minor damage on the victim’s vehicles, particularly the rear windshield of the family’s white Starex van and the upper left portion of their black Nissan Safari.
The blast also caused damage on the neighbors’ vehicles parked nearby, such as the front hood of a black Hyundai van, and the front windshield of a tricycle.
It also destroyed a portion of the wall of the nearby house owned by one Lisa Topos.
Acting chief of police, Chief Inspector George Vale, said the city police station received the information at around 2:29 a.m. of March 10 through a radio communications equipment from a barangay tanod on duty of Poblacion 3, Emmanuel Torralba Jr.
Torralba told the police that a loud explosion was heard at the residence of the late city councilor.
The late councilor also used to hold his office at the front portion of the house. It is now presently occupied by his 37-year-old son, Aleck Francis Trabaju Lim, married, and also a lawyer by profession.
Elements of city police station composed of Vale, Senior Inspector Jacinto Mandal Jr.—chief of the criminal investigation section, PO3 Silvan Palacio—duty investigator, and members of the quick response team responded to verify the report.
Initial investigation by the responding team showed that the explosion occurred at around 2 a.m. based on the report of the watchman on duty at the residence of the victim, identified as John Jeford Rosco, and the barangay tanod.
Rosco and Torralba said that shortly after they heard the loud sound of a blast, they saw an unidentified man hurriedly leaving from the area on a motorcycle, speeding away toward J.A. Clarin St., this city.
The PIB and the intelligence group of the city police continued to track down the motorcycle driving suspect who fled from the crime scene that dawn, based on the footage from a CCTV camera.