UP Diliman pillbox blast

I was at Eduk yesterday afternoon when I was told about the pillbox that had exploded on the grounds of Benton Hall, which was just a minute's walk away. I rushed to the scene to report for my college paper, Tinig Ng Plaridel.

I'm proud to say we were the first to break the story correctly. News outlets were tweeting that a vintage World War II bomb had caused the explosion. The authorities that responded to the incident weren't yet sure what the explosive was when I got to the scene, but they had already speculated it was a pillbox and ruled out any chance it was a vintage bomb. The damage to the area was minor, and the two construction workers who were injured in the blast were still conscious with all limbs intact, so it probably wasn't an undetonated bomb from the 1940s. I tweeted photos of the area and quoted police officials to dispute the hearsay.

GMA News used my tweets and photos in their story. InterAksyon used my photo, too. Of course, I had few resources and little time with me and so I wasn't able to chase the story much after I broke it. DZUP and the Philippine Collegian, as well as the mainstream media outlets, followed up very well. Still, I'm glad to say I think we got all the important facts out on the first break.

Journalism is fun. Check me out in the video at the top of this post, at around the 2:10 mark!