A homeowner was alarmed after finding a pair of vintage mortars stored in his late father's bedroom in the Philippines.

Marvin Orias had been tidying up the room at the house in Sampaloc, Manila City on April 13 afternoon when he found two tubes stashed away in a corner.

Thinking they were merely documents, Marvin popped the lids open only to find he was holding deadly explosives.

He said: 'My dad was an engineer so I thought the containers were just used for documents. When I opened it, I saw there was a small propeller. I was so surprised. It wasn't just one bomb. There were two. I was scared because they could have exploded any time.'

The whole family said they were shocked that the mortars were being stored in their house. They said the deceased father had worked as an engineer conducting oil explorations, but were unaware he had taken home such deadly items.

The Manila District Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Canine Unit (DECU) arrived to pick up the vintage bombs, which they identified as 81mm mortar cartridges, for proper disposition.

Manila DECU Chief Police Lieutenant Leo Limbaga said: 'It's good that the family turned the bombs over before any damage could be done. These mortars are very destructive. We believe the father may have been using these when they were rock blasting in mines.'

He added no charges will be filed against the family as they had surrendered the mortars in good faith.