Bomb threat halts MTCC operations

A bomb threat disrupted work for at least an hour at the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 3 located at the Qimonda IT Center in Cebu City on Monday morning.

Employees had to vacate their office while personnel from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) verified the bomb report.

Court employee Aila Noah Emphasis said SWAT personnel arrived at their sala at about 9 a.m. and declared the area free of any bomb an hour after.

Emphasis said their utility worker received a telephone call from an unidentified person about 7:30 a.m. yesterday telling him that a bomb was left in their sala.

Court employees then called MTCC Branch 3 Judge Yvonne Artiaga and their clerk of court who advised them to vacate their office. The two were then attending an out-of-office seminar.

But before they could start to vacate their office, Emphasis said, SWAT personnel arrived to check on any threat.

She said she was surprised when the SWAT arrived since she had not called the police at that time.

PO1 Archie Borres of SWAT-CCPO said that Florencia Baay, utility worker of Branch 3, called the 166 hotline of the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG) to report the alleged bomb threat.

Emphasis said they were allowed to return to their office at about 10 a.m. to continue their work.

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