DA gets another bomb threat

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture received another bomb threat through several text messages sent to a DA official yesterday morning.

Police said the one who sent the text message even cited similar bomb threats received by the DA and other offices in Metro Manila earlier this year.

But the threat turned out to be a hoax after bomb experts cleared the entire compound and found no such device, said Inspector Arnulfo Franco, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Explosives and Ordnance Division.

According to Franco, the threat came through three text messages received by Vince Tejada, director of the DA’s Bureau of Soil and Water Management, that started coming in from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Senior Police Officer 1 Faustino Esplana said the text messages received by Tejada warned that many people would be hurt by a bomb that had been smuggled into the DA’s main building.

The sender attributed the supposed bombing attempt to “enemies of the government,” and warned Tejada to evacuate everyone from the building.

According to Esplana, they scoured the entire four-story main building and the offices around it and found no explosive device.

Esplana said DA officials eventually decided to send their employees home at around noon following the incident.

He said they are still trying to determine who sent the text messages.

Last June 29, a C-4 bomb was found near the base of the flagpole at the DA compound. A similar bomb was found outside a condominium building on Katipunan Avenue that same day. The two incidents happened a day after an improvised explosive device was thrown at the Office of the Ombudsman building.