ILOILO City – Courts at the Chief Justice Ramon Q. Avanceña Hall of Justice on Bonifacio Drive, City Proper suspended hearings following a bomb threat yesterday morning.
The threat was made through a phone call to the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) also located at the Hall of Justice around 8:37 a.m.
According to PAO employee Rosan San Luis who answered the phone, the caller sounded like an old man.
She said the caller told her, “Palanaog na kamo kay ara dira ang bomba (You all better get out of the building because there’s a bomb there).”
Informed of the bomb threat, Executive Judge Victor Gelveson, the PAO officer-in-charge, immediately ordered an evacuation.
The Iloilo City Police Office’s Police Station 1 commander Superintendent Jonathan Pablito, on the other hand, asked the Explosives and Ordnance Division of the Police Regional Office 6 to conduct a building inspection.
“After more than an hour of inspection, the police did not find any bomb at the Hall of Justice,” said Pablito.
The threat was then dismissed as a prank call.
“Baka ang purpose ng caller ay ma-postpone ang certain court hearing,” said Pablito.
All Hall of Justice employees were ordered to return to work./PN
