Bomb scare hits QC Hall of Justice

Tension gripped the Quezon City Hall yesterday morning after an employee received a bomb threat from an anonymous caller.

An operator took the call at about 9 a.m. The male caller said a bomb was set to explode inside the Hall of Justice, which houses the trial courts and prosecutor’s office.

Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. immediately ordered the evacuation of all personnel and visitors as Central Police District officers conducted a thorough search on the premises.

Senior Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza, chief of the CPD Intelligence Unit, said the threat turned out to be a "hoax" and declared city hall "free of any bombs."

"We still have to take all calls seriously," Jaraza said.

City hall detachment policemen coordinated with the CPD-SWAT in inspecting the justice department and other nearby areas. The place was declared safe at about 10 a.m.

Court hearings and other transactions, which were all suspended due to the bomb scare, resumed immediately after lunch.

In Caloocan City, employees and clients of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) rushed out of the firm’s branch office on Samson Road yesterday after a neatly wrapped box left at the front door was mistaken for a bomb.

The scare caused a three-hour traffic jam in the area, police chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele said.

Explosives and Ordnance Division chief Inspector Joven de la Piedra said the box, wrapped heavily in masking tape, was found abandoned at 1 p.m.

Police immediately secured the area as the bomb disposal team went to work. No explosive device was found inside the package. Its content: a dead cat. – Matthew Estabillo, Pia Lee-Brago, Jerry Botial