CAPILLAS
The bomb scares that victimized students of seven schools in Cebu City reminded me of that 2002 movie “Phone Booth” in which the film’s central character, a smarmy and arrogant publicist named Stuart Shepard, was held hostage by a caller inside a phone booth and forced to admit his adultery in front of his wife and mistress.
The caller, whom Shepard later met personally while he was sedated inside an ambulance, managed to get away with a warning that he will return for him should he again engage in dishonest, even criminal behavior.
That movie, an action thriller, predates by two years a similarly plotted but a more graphic horror movie called “Saw” in which two men were held hostage by a serial killer named “Jigsaw” who communicated with them through a TV monitor.
For that’s exactly what happens when bomb scares occur: regardless of whether or not it resulted in an actual explosion, the perpetrators hold their intended targets hostage, intimidating them into complying or submitting to their spoken or unspoken demands, which in the case of the seven Cebu City schools mean evacuating the students away from the schools.
Cebu City authorities have yet to verify the identity of the bomb hoax caller after a schoolteacher whose phone was traced as having made the calls denied any involvement by saying her phone had been stolen.
Whether or not the teacher reported the loss of her phone to the police — even if her husband is a police officer — and produced a blotter report to verify her claims, the Cebu City police would be hard-pressed to produce incontrovertible evidence that can be used against her.
The latest report said that the so-called Diana dela Cruz, who posted another bomb scare in Facebook, was a female sorority member. But as to how the schoolteacher’s phone or SIM card got into her hands is something that police should look into.
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The problem lies in detecting and sourcing the calls, and it takes a certain time and certain conditions for the authorities to accurately trace the calls to their source.
Based on what I see in Hollywood action movies — which I hope bears some semblance in terms of actual technology used by law enforcement agencies here — it would take several seconds for a call to be traced and the phone caller is usually smart enough to know when to hang up just before the call is traced to him/her.
What complicates things is when the bomb scare perpetrators resort to using social media just like what Diana dela Cruz did, then the panic and hysteria they target to inflict is magnified tenfold to even a hundredfold.
Whoever this Diana dela Cruz is, he/she/it may have learned a thing or two from “Cebu Flash Report” which posted what was eventually proven to be a false story about a bomb being placed near a store in Lapu-Lapu City.
Unlike terrorists or criminals who employ actual weapons and tactics, these bomb pranksters feed only on the current fears of a spillover of terrorist violence from Marawi City to sow public hysteria for their own gratification or ulterior motive.
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As a commuter in Cebu City, it’s both frustrating and tiring to listen and watch opponents of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project repeat their pathetic refrain to the government to replace it with the Light Railway Transit (LRT).
I managed to visit Manila years back and rode the LRT thrice, and while it wasn’t a totally unpleasant experience, it was quite jarring to see oneself riding above the ground while jeepneys and cars crawl beneath you, tied up in smoke and traffic.
As someone who grew up in Manila, I remember a time when one can see the skyline with fewer structures blocking your view such as those tall concrete and glass buildings that gleam at day and shine at night.
Nowadays, you have flyovers in both Manila and Cebu City along with those giant billboards, and while it may be bright and inviting to city dwellers especially at night, the skyline had become scarcer than ever.
I’m no environmentalist; but those flyovers and those rails that stand above ground, groaning with the weight of the LRT trains boarded by hundreds and thousands of commuters like me, have only constricted whatever free living space there is in either Manila or Cebu City.
The BRT is far from being perfect, but I think it’s less invasive than the LRT — which can also be built underground, I know.
And those who wish to pursue the LRT should find the funds to finance it without diverting the budget intended for the BRT.
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