Bomb threats at Cebu City Hall and Capitol could come from the same person — police official

Police are searching the vicinity of the Capitol legislative building following a reported bomb threat. According to initial reports, a call was received by one of the building’s occupants informing him of the presence of a bomb in one of the offices there at around noon on Monday, September 13, 2021. | Contributed Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police say there is a big possibility that only one person is behind the recent bomb threats at Cebu City Hall and Cebu Provincial Capitol.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), issued the statement considering that the recent subjects of the bomb scare were mostly government buildings.

Last August 27, Cebu City Hall suspended its operations due to a bomb threat. On Monday, September 13, work at the legislative building of the Cebu Provincial Capitol was interrupted also due to a bomb threat.

With this, Parilla said that they are coordinating with the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit (RACU-7) as the latter has expertise in the matter. They are currently searching if the number used in calling City Hall and the Capitol was connected to an email or any social media account.

READ: Pursuing bomb hoax caller: CIDG Cybercrime unit tapped

Also, the chief of Abellana Police Station, Police Major Armando Labora, recently said that they also submitted the said number to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Cybercrime Unit to also help with the investigation.

Parilla said that they are putting emphasis on where the number originated.

Regardless if this is a prank call or text, the suspect could be charged with alarm and scandal, and grave threat should he or she would be proven to have committed it.

As of this posting, no one was yet apprehended for the two bomb threats in the city.

For those who will receive the same threat, Parilla advises them to take the call seriously and report it immediately to the police or to the Explosives Ordnance Disposal personnel for quicker response.

He also encouraged the public that as much as possible, do not panic when they received such warnings.

Neil Sanchez, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), recently said that one worker from the legislative building hyperventilated because of the incident.

Personnel from the EOD did not find any bombs in the area. Following this assessment, Vice Governor Hilario Davide III decided to let his employees go back to their offices on the same day.

The offices of the Vice Governor, Provincial Board Members, the Cebu provincial offices of the Commission on Elections in Cebu (Comelec -Cebu), Commission on Audit (COA-Cebu), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) are among the affected offices.

READ: Bomb threat interrupts work in Capitol’s legislative building