BOMB CALLS REACH 11 METRO SCHOOLS
First threat reached a Department of Education official at 8 a.m. Tuesday Classes suspended to let police search classrooms quickly, thoroughly Threat sender’s number traced, but person says that phone had been stolen
Officials of schools and DepEd office who received calls describe the caller as male and Tagalog-speaking Authorities are able to trace the caller's number to a stolen cellphone belonging to a teacher in Ilagan City, Isabela
The Special Weapons and Tactics of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) responded to seven simultaneous bomb threats to a Department of Education (DepEd) office and six public elementary schools yesterday.
Chief Insp. Sandley Sabang, chief of the Swat-CCPO, said the bomb scare was first received by a DepEd official around 8 a.m.
"Somebody called their land- line, saying that their personnel must be evacuated within 20 minutes because a bomb will go off in the building," Sabang said.
School administrators of the Mabolo National High School, Lahug Elementary School, Carlos A. Gothong Memorial National High School, City Central School, San Nicolas Elementary School, Zapatera Elementary School and Labangon Elemen- tary School received similar calls only minutes apart.
They described the voice as male and Tagalog-speaking.
Dr. Janet Kanen, assistant principal of the Lahug Elementary School, said the caller told her in Tagalog: "There's a bomb in your school. Evacuate the kids in 20 minutes.”
Councilor Dave Tumulak, deputy mayor for police matters, said the Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology and the Cebu Technological University also received calls with a similar threat in the afternoon. All calls were reportedly from the same caller (0935 108 0039), which was recorded in the caller ID of the DepEd office and can be traced to a certain Karen Mae Calautit, a teacher in Ilagan City, Isabela in Luzon.
But Calautit, in a post tagged by Junjun Alviar, an admin staff of former vice mayor Joy Young, to radio dyLA on Facebook, said she lost the phone two months ago.
Sabang said that it was the first time that schools in Cebu City received simultaneous bomb scares.
The incident prompted Lahug school officials to check and double-check rooms and bags of students for anything suspicious.
"In their initial ocular inspection, they did not see anything suspicious. When we arrived, we immediately conducted searching and paneling in the area, which also turned out negative of any suspicious explosive devices," Sabang said.
Since the CCPO-Swat does not have K9 units, Sabang said that they used a bomb-sniffing dog from the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office-Swat to check the schools' premises.
At 9:35 a.m., Jessica Villanagas, a Grade 4 teacher, was told about the threat, and immediately took action.
"It was snack time. I told the kids that there was an earthquake drill because we heard the alarm. So the kids thought there was an earthquake, they evacuated the school with their hands covering their heads," she said.
Jecel Rabanuel, a Grade 4 student, said they were only told about the bomb threat once they were outside.
In Zapatera, parents and guardians panicked and ended up destroying the school's gate.
DepEd Division School Supt. Bienito Dagatan told parents not to panic.
"Some of them almost fainted because they were afraid for their children's safety. Our teachers were there and they knew how to handle situations like these in a peaceful and orderly manner to avoid stampedes," Dagatan said.
Meanwhile, CCPO Director Joel Doria said they are waiting for an official police report from the Ilagan City police and an affidavit from Calautit.
“The number was used to create trouble. Our investigators are now tracing the person who called the schools," he said.
He said the CCPO needs K9 units and its Swat personnel need to undergo an explosive and ordnance training in case it's the real thing. "This is very critical," he said. Whether the calls were made to test the response time of the police, Doria said the security guards of the schools should have controlled the crowd.
"They should've remained calm while police were on their way to respond," he said.
The Mandaue City Comprehensive National High School also received a similar threat, a few minutes.
Mandaue's Swat personnel inspected the school, but found no explosive device.
Mayor Gabriel Luigi Quisumbing issued a statement that the bomb threat was a hoax.
Students were then advised to return to their classrooms and classes resumed.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña also thought there was no need to suspend classes, and asked parents and teachers to help heighten security measures instead.
He wants all Parent and Teachers Associations to form a security group composed of volunteers to screen the entry and exit of visitors and to monitor students. /