MANILA, Philippines?Only the government can be behind the recent bombing incidents in the country, a witness in the 2005 ?Hello Garci? election fraud scandal said Wednesday.

Speaking with Senate reporters, Vidal Doble recalled that when he was working with the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces, he and other military intelligence officers frequently did the bombings themselves.

?We did that so we could focus on the scenario that they (authorities) wanted to pull off,? he said.

Doble said this was why he was inclined to believe reports on the so-called ?Oplan August Moon,? which would purportedly see the installation of administration-friendly police and military brass in sensitive posts to allow for Charter change and ultimately the extension of President Macapagal-Arroyo?s stay in power.

?They want to control the whole of the AFP just in case the Con-ass (constituent assembly) pushes ahead,? Doble said, adding:

?It?s the government that?s behind the bombings. We were doing that in the past. It?s a scenario they use so that their plans can push through.?

On Wednesday, only three days after a bomb exploded at the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City, a bomb threat was sent in a text message to one of its lawyers, forcing Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales III to send some 500 employees home by noon.

The bomb squad of the Quezon City Police District searched the five floors of the building on Agham Road but found nothing.

The text message, which was in Filipino, said a bomb ?with C4 component? had been planted somewhere near the office of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

It was received by lawyer Moreen Generoso of the agency?s Preliminary Investigation and Adjudication Monitoring Office at about 11 a.m.

Gutierrez was not in her office yesterday.

Change in strategy

Doble expressed doubt that those behind the purported manipulation of the 2004 presidential election would make the same moves come 2010.

?They will likely change their strategy,? said Doble, who told a Senate inquiry in September 2007 that he was part of an intelligence team that monitored and recorded the ?Hello Garci? phone conversations between Ms Arroyo and then Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in 2004.

He said this was because the people were now fully aware that cheating in the 2004 election was done through dagdag-bawas, or vote-padding and -shaving, at the municipal level.

?So you know that election returns at that level should be watched,? he said. ?That Garci scenario will no longer succeed.?

Doble also said it was possible that there would be no elections in 2010. He said what the administration was avoiding was the lawsuits that could be brought against Ms Arroyo and her people when she steps down in 2010.

He said the bombings were intended ?to confuse the people, to make it appear there is chaos, so that just in case, they could go to their bigger scenario, such as imposing martial law.?

?No destab?

Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa reiterated the administration?s official line dispelling rumors of a destabilization plot.

But he said recent bomb-related incidents should be investigated in view of political events, including the President?s State of the Nation Address (Sona) late this month and the coming election season.

Speaking on the matter for the first time, Verzosa said police intelligence had indicated no fresh attempt to shake up the Arroyo administration as it approached its final months until the May 2010 elections.

?We have no analysis yet pertaining to the presence of destabilization,? Verzosa said.

?All of these things must be analyzed in the context of the upcoming events. We have to also look at the political exercises, the overall situation, leading to next year,? he said.

He enumerated these major events as the Sona, the filing of candidacies of political aspirants until November, the Christmas season and the 2010 polls.

?We have to rely on the facts that we see and the results of the investigation but, so far, we have no evidence of it being linked to destabilization,? Verzosa said.

In succession

On June 20, two grenades exploded at a fiesta celebration in Maasim, Sarangani, killing one person and hurting 32 others. Authorities pinned the blame on separatist rebels.

Early on June 28, an improvised device went off at the Office of the Ombudsman compound, damaging the water treatment plant, some windows of the second-floor rooms, as well as the employees? shuttle service.

On June 29, another improvised device exploded by a roadside in Maguindanao, killing two men having coffee in a nearby coffee shop and wounding eight others.

In Quezon City that same day, a package containing an improvised explosive was found on the grounds of the Department of Agriculture and another containing half a pound of C4, a plastic explosive usually used by the military, was found beside an electrical post near a condominium building on Katipunan Avenue.

Police said the devices were not intended to explode because they were not fitted with blasting caps.

First threat

Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said Wednesday it was the first time the agency had received a bomb threat since it moved to its five-story building in Quezon City in 2002.

Because of the threat and the explosion on Sunday, Casimiro said, ?we found it prudent to declare a half-day suspension [of work].? But some employees stayed at their posts.

Casimiro said work would resume today. He also said he did not want to speculate on what could have motivated the threat.

Asked to comment, Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni said: ?This will not deter us from our work. But we will have to strengthen our security measures.?

Supt. Franklin Moises Mabanag, head of the Quezon City Police District Mobile Group, said the bomb threat would be investigated although it turned out negative.

?It could be a hoax, but we will continue the investigation to determine the source of the text message,? he said.

Chief Supt. Elmo San Diego, director of the Quezon City Police District, said he had ordered ?target-hardening measures and improved police visibility? in all city government offices.

?We are taking all threats seriously and will deploy operatives to all sites of bomb threats,? San Diego said.

Senior Insp. Arnulfo Franco, head of the Explosive Ordnance Division, said city police conducted the room-to-room search with the Ombudsman?s security personnel.

Franco said the people in the building were traumatized by the threat because of the Sunday explosion.

Makati moves

The bomb scare in Quezon City has prompted Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay to order the city police chief, Senior Supt. Cedrick Train, to increase police visibility and tighten security, especially in the central business district.

?Top corporations and business establishments are situated here in Makati. The city government maintains a proactive stance in keeping the peace and ensuring the safety of its constituents,? Binay said.

The mayor called on Makati residents and transients to report suspicious activities or characters to the Makati Command Center at 168, or at 870-1920, 870-1923, 870-1926.

?I am asking the private sector to help the city by beefing up security in the buildings and malls. They should also closely coordinate with the Makati police,? Binay said.