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 — No less than the top official of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) admitted that they are having a difficult time identifying the persons behind the recent bomb threats in the city.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, the CCPO deputy director for operations, said the numbers that the culprits used in issuing the threats could no longer be reached anymore.
“So far, wala gyud gihapon ta’y updates because the numbers [are] no longer active. So, it cannot be located anymore. Dili na-makontak ang numbers nga gigamit,” he said.
Despite the difficulty, Parilla said they will review the link of the numbers on social media accounts hoping to find any clues.
He said they will take seriously any form of threats, may they be through a text message or call.
“Even sa kanang mga text messages, we do not take it lightly. Ato gyud nang gi-seriously take og actions gyud ang kanang ingon ana nga mga klase nga insidente,” he added.
The CCPO was also coordinating with the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit (RACU-7), who has the expertise in searching if the numbers used were connected to an email or any social media accounts.
Parilla, however, reiterated that there is a big possibility that only one person was behind the two bomb threats, stressing that the subjects were government buildings.
“Ang purpose ato [maybe] is to distract, or I don’t know kon unsa gyud iyahang purpose why ang mga government agencies mao ma’y iyahang target sa ilahang bomb scare,” he said.
The most recent incident was on Monday, September 13, at the legislative building of the Cebu Provincial Capitol, where work was interrupted after one of the staff of Vice Governor Hilario Davide III received the threat through a phone call.
Cebu City Hall, on the other hand, suspended its operations on August 27 after receiving a threat through a text message from an unknown number.
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