Bomb threats disrupt classes at 2 Cebu City universities

Map of Cebu province. INQUIRER.net FILES

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Bomb threats posted on social media disrupted classes in two universities here on Monday, October 21.

The Cebu Technological University (CTU) main campus and the Cebu Institute of Technology University (CIT-U) canceled all classes after receiving separate threats.

The police first responded to the CTU main campus after receiving a bomb threat at 6 a.m.

According to school officials, they were surprised that the official Facebook account of CTU was tagged in a post with a bomb threat.

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In the Facebook post, the threat was detailed along with images of the bombs that were reportedly taken from the Internet.

“Bomb successfully planted. Say goodbye, CTU main! You have approximately 5 hours left,” read the post from the dummy account.

Members of the Explosive Ordnance Division (EOD) with their K9 units, along with officers from Cebu City Police Station 3, quickly responded and inspected the entire campus.

By around 10 a.m., Colonel Antonietto Cañete, director of the Cebu City Police Office, declared the school safe from any bombs.

“As of this time, it’s officially cleared as our EOD thoroughly inspected the entire campus,” he said.

Cañete said they had a lead on who might have posted the bomb threat on the CTU social media account.

Although he refused to identify the suspect of posting the bomb hoax, Cañete said they were still investigating if the suspect was a student at the school.

At around 10 a.m., police also responded to another bomb threat at the CIT-U.

Students from elementary to college were evacuated after an anonymous social media post warned of a bomb explosion on the campus.

The post stated “Goodbye GLE building!” and was accompanied by a photo of a time bomb.

After a thorough checking of the school premises, the police also cleared CIT-U.

This is the third consecutive month that universities in Cebu have received bomb threats, causing fear not only among students but also among parents and school employees.

On September 21, the University of Cebu (UC) Lapu-Lapu Mandaue campus faced a bomb scare after a similar post appeared online.

In August, UC Banilad also dealt with a threat, leading to disruptions even though no bombs were found.

Cañete said the police would file charges once they identify those responsible for the bomb threats.

“To those posting bomb threats, there will always be consequences for your actions. We will file cases against them because this is a serious offense. We will charge them under the Crime Prevention Act and other applicable laws. We will file multiple cases so that they will pay for the damage they’ve caused,” he said.