SANTIAGO CITY — A 42-year-old village councilor was killed instantly, while his worker sustained critical injuries after a vintage bomb exploded while they attempted to cut it with a saw in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, on Saturday, Feb. 8, police reported on Monday.
Major Nova Lyn Aggasid, spokesperson for the Nueva Vizcaya police, confirmed in a phone interview that the village official, a resident of Barangay Baan, Aritao town, died on the spot. His family requested that his name be withheld.
Meanwhile, his 33-year-old worker from Nueva Ecija suffered severe injuries, including severed legs and shrapnel wounds.
He remains in critical condition at the Region II Trauma and Medical Center in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.
The councilor, who also worked as a house contractor, discovered the vintage bomb while working at a construction site in San Antonio North village, Bambang.
Believing the device might contain gold, he and his worker transported it to his home in Almaguer South, where they attempted to see it open, causing the explosion.
Neighbors rushed to the scene after hearing the blast, which some initially mistook for a gas tank or transformer explosion.
The Provincial Explosives and Canine Unit is analyzing the bomb fragments to determine the type of ordnance involved.
Aggasid confirmed the incident was an accident, and authorities do not intend to file criminal charges.
She urged the public to immediately report any sightings of vintage bombs and to avoid handling them, emphasizing that such devices should only be managed by experts.