ILOILO City – A late afternoon bomb threat disrupted classes at the University of San Agustin yesterday.
The university ordered an evacuation around 4:05 p.m. after receiving a message in its Facebook page about a bomb at Rada Hall.
“There was no bomb,” declared Police Station 1 chief Superintendent Jonathan Pablito after policemen inspected the hall and found none.
A prank was how he dismissed the threat posted on Facebook by a certain “Felix Tan.”
Pablito said this “Felix Tan” was likely a fictitious Facebook name.
“The bomb threat was a prank by a certain group or individual to disrupt classes,” said Pablito.
Policemen tried but failed to snoop on the Felix Tan Facebook page yesterday afternoon; it had been deactivated.
Just this Oct. 2 the Ateneo de Iloilo – Santa Maria Catholic School in Barangay San Rafael, Mandurriao district cancelled classes due to a bomb threat.
Security guard Johnny De Pablo found an abandoned green bag at Gate 2 of the school around 9:05 a.m.
Its contents alarmed him – a cellular phone wrapped in electrical tape and two red and white leg wires connected to a plastic bottle. He immediately alerted school officials.
Classes were suspended and an evacuation was ordered.
According to Chief Inspector Engilbert Banquillo, Mandurriao police chief, the contraption was assembled to look like an improvised explosive device but without a main charge that, in real bombs, could trigger an explosion.
The Explosive and Ordnance Division of the Iloilo City Police Office, however, did not leave anything to chance. It used a projected water disruptor to destroy the device./PN
