Bomb threat disrupts classes in Marikina school

MANILA, Philippines - Tension gripped parents and students of the Nangka Elementary School in Marikina City yesterday due to a bomb threat.

Marciana de Guzman, school principal, suspended morning classes as police and fire units combed the school buildings for bombs. The bomb threat turned out to be a hoax.

Police are readying alarm and scandal charges against a certain Marilyn Cruz, a resident of Barangay Nangka, according to Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel.

Laurel said witnesses tagged Cruz as the one allegedly responsible for the bomb hoax.

“We are gathering evidence prior to the filing of alarm and scandal charges against Cruz,” said Laurel.

The EPD director ordered Senior Superintendent Gabriel Lopez, Marikina City police chief, to determine the suspect’s motive.

Cruz, 56, vehemently denied being the source of the bomb threat.

She said she was on her motorcycle along Kabayani Road when she noticed two unidentified women running along the roadside.

When she asked them what scared them, the two women answered back there was a bomb planted at the elementary school located along F. Manalo street, Balubad in Barangay Nangka.

Classes resumed in the afternoon.

Cruz said she rushed home and informed her daughter about the bomb and they fetched her granddaughter.

Benito Felicio, a volunteer guard, said he was manning his post at the main gate when a female parent arrived and told him there was bomb inside the school.

The other parents panicked and tried to enter the gate to fetch their children. But Felicio managed to close the gate and reported the matter to the school principal.

When he returned minutes later, the parents have forced their way inside and fetched their children.

De Guzman immediately suspended classes as she and school officials helped in evacuating the students.

According to Laurel, personnel of the Marikina City fire department, volunteers from the Red Cross and the local police, including the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) searched the school for an hour but found no bomb.