Bomb hoax rocks two universities

CEBU, Philippines — Two universities in Cebu City were rocked with bomb threats Monday morning, October 21, resulting in the cancellation of classes and midterm exams.

Cebu Technological University (CTU) Main Campus was forced to cancel the midterm exams yesterday after a certain “John Steve” posted on Facebook at 7:50 a.m. about a supposed bomb planted in the university campus.

“Hello Technologists! BOMB SUCCESSFULLY PLANTED. SAY GOODBYE, CTU MAIN! YOU HAVE APPROXIMATELY, 5 HOURS NALANG I HOPE THIS WILL BE A SUCCESS,” the post read.

The Facebook post, which gathered more than 11,800 likes and over 7,000 shares as of 5 p.m. yesterday, prompted CTU-MC director Ramel Genobiagon to suspend the classes and advised students who were supposed to take their midterm exams to vacate the campus.

A similar post on social media also prompted the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) to suspend classes in the morning.

Parents and guardians scampered to fetch their children after the school announced on social media the suspension of classes due to “security concern”.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, deputy city director for operations and spokesperson of Cebu City Police Office, said a team from the Explosive Ordnance Division (EOD) was immediately dispatched to conduct clearing operations.

After combing the university campuses, the police found nothing and declared it was just a “bomb scare.”

“It turned out nga bomb scare siya,” said Macatangay.

The police officer urged the public to stop making bomb joke because it is a crime and could send them to jail.

Macatangay said that they have already referred the incidents to the Regional Anti Cybercrime Unit (RACU) to check the identification tags on the emails and cellphone numbers used by the perpetrators in creating the social media accounts.

The police official assured that the perpetrators will be identified soon and charged for violations of Presidential Decree 1727 or the anti-bomb joke law.

Classes for college students at the CIT-U immediately resumed at 1:30 p.m. yesterday albeit using the online asynchronous modality.

The school also announced that the online classes will continue today, October 22, except for the CNAHS (College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences) in the afternoon due to the scheduled College Faculty General Assembly and college meetings.

While Basic Education will return to face-to-face classes today, October 22. Rescheduling of the Junior High School examinations will be communicated by the advisers through the respective class group chats, and work in all offices will resume today. — (FREEMAN)