ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — Authorities here are puzzled by a horde of explosive weapons discovered in La Paz, Iloilo City.

Two boys stumbled upon a sack containing explosives while playing at an open field in Brgy. Ticud, La Paz district last Sunday.

“Definitely, it is not from the military,” said Maj. John Andrada, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID).

The recovered materiel included three pieces of 81 millimeter (mm) mortar cartridges, a 60mm mortar cartridge, a 57mm mortar, a canister of 105mm propellant, an M67 rifle grenade cartridge, two M59 rifle grenade cartridges, and three canisters of rifle grenade.

The explosives were found half a kilometer from the 164-megawatt coal-fired power plant owned and operated by the Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC).

We don’t know where these came from or what they will be used for. We don’t know if it’s intended for the coal plant,” Andrada said referring to certain groups opposing the operation of the power plant for environmental reasons.

However, Andrada said it is also possible that the materiel may belong to members of the New People’s Army (NPA). Components of the weapons recovered are ingredients in improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are used by Communist rebels in staging attacks against the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

According to SPO1 John Menesis of the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Team of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO), the explosives are very dangerous. They could still be detonated and highly fatal.

After initially examining the recovered explosives, the police turned over the items to the Army’s 23rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team.

Both the police and the army are in close coordination in the on-going investigation with emphasis on tracing where the explosives came from.