MANILA, Philippines — Within five days, there have been three bomb threats in Manila, the latest of which was reported Wednesday.
At 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a handwritten note found on the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) campus in Intramuros, Manila, warned about a bomb that was planted in the area.
A portion of the note read “Bangon Pilipinas (Rise Philippines),” a message similar to a line in another handwritten note left on top of a box left on a passenger bus on Tuesday.
In the other note, the writer had written an appeal: “Baguhin ang Philippines (Reform the Philippines).”
The note on the LPU campus was found by a student, Bernard Francis Mendoza, inside a male toilet at 10:30 a.m. The find was reported to head security guard Christie Glen Placio, who immediately informed school officials, leading to the suspension of classes.
More than 4,000 students and their teachers were evacuated although they were merely informed that there was an emergency that required them to leave the campus.
At 12:15 p.m., Manila Police District bomb squad arrived on the campus to conduct a check of the premises. They left before 2 p.m. after their search turned up no explosives.
Several students, however, expressed relief over the disruption of classes as their final exams had to be reset.
On Saturday, a box left at the Recto station of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 caused a bomb scare.
It was later found to contain pieces of broken glass.
The box left on a TAS Transit Bus near the Lawton area on Tuesday, on the other hand, contained pieces of electrical wires, two batteries and sand. A note and cell phone had been left on top of it.
Mayor Alfredo Lim, meanwhile, downplayed the incidents. “They are just troublemakers,” he said.
A police source said the presence of the box at the LRT Recto station was reported to the authorities by a telephone caller who identified himself as a concerned citizen.
“The caller was probably the same person who left the box,” the source added.—With Nancy C. Carvajal