CCPO, NBI to investigate ‘bomb threat’

THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 will find the person who sent the bomb threat that resulted in the suspension of work at City Hall on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021.

Work at the Cebu City Hall was suspended after personnel from the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRMO) received a text message saying that someone planted a bomb inside the city’s seat of power.

After a three-hour sweeping, police personnel and even anti-ordnance personnel proved that the bomb threat was a hoax.

Ramil Ayuman, acting CDRRMO head, said the authorities cleared the City Hall at around 1 p.m.

Ayuman said the text message they received stated, “Meron bomba kami’ng itinanim sa Cebu City Hall. Kung gusto nyo’ng maligtas ang inyong empleyado, gumawa na kayo ng mabilisang action. Ang bomba ay sasabog ngayon.”

(There is a bomb that we placed at Cebu City. If you want to save your employees, please do it immediately. The bomb could explode right about now)

Ayuman said they tried to call the number, but it could no longer be reached.

Ayuman already thought it was a hoax, but the CDRRMO’s standard operating procedure is to search to clear the area.

In a separate interview, Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, DRRM committee chairman, said this is not the first time there was a bomb threat at City Hall.

Tumulak said this was the third time there was a bomb threat in Cebu City Hall since 2013.

City Hall employees were evacuated five minutes after the text message was received, said Ayuman.

Mary Rose Lubino, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella’s chief of staff, said operation and work at City Hall will resume on Tuesday, Aug. 31.

Labella, in a Facebook post, said he will have the local police investigate the incident and to immediately identify the bomb threat’s sender.

In another separate interview, Col. Josefino Ligan, CCPO director, said their personnel, along with the NBI 7, have coordinated in conducting the investigation on the alleged bomb threat.

Ligan admitted that they have no idea yet as to the identify of the texter of the bomb threat.

“Pertaining to the number of the texter, we have it subjected to technical investigation,” Ligan added. (JJL, AYB / JKV)