Grenade blast hits Negros Oriental town mayor's home; 1 hurt

DUMAGUETE CITY — A grenade exploded inside the residential compound of the mayor and vice mayor of Bacong town in Negros Oriental on Tuesday evening, leaving one woman injured.

Bacong Police chief Senior Inspector Luis Lacandula told GMA News Online in a phone interview that 30-year-old Diana Jane Justiniani sustained minor injuries in her left arm due to the grenade blast.

The grenade was thrown into the residential compound of Bacong Mayor Jocelyn Alviola and husband, Vice Mayor Lenin Alviola, in Barangay Lutao.

Justiniani is the live-in partner of Lionell Jester Alviola, son of the two local government executives.

The mayor and the vice mayor were also at their house when the blast took place. They were both unharmed.

The blast damaged the couple's white Mitsubishi Montero.

Police said that according to Justiniani, two motorcycle-riding men threw the grenade into their compound and fled to an unknown direction.

Lacandula said politics and personal grudge could be the motive of the attack.

Investigations are ongoing to identify the grenade throwers.

The local police chief said it was the first attack on the two top local executives.

Police security personnel have been assigned to the couple.

The incident is the second attack on a ranking local government official in Negros Oriental since April.

Motorcycle-riding gunmen killed Guinulngan City councilor Paulo Edison dela  Rita last April 2. —ALG, GMA News