BIR exec who survived ambush now gets bomb threats

MANILA, Philippines – Three weeks after surviving a gun attack while he was driving home in Quezon City, an official of the Bureau of Internal Revenue is now being harassed with telephoned bomb threats, police said.

According to Inspector Noel Sublay, head of the Quezon City Police District’s explosives and ordnance division, an employee at the BIR main office in Quezon City received a call from an unidentified man Friday morning saying a bomb had been planted in the building and to warn Daniel de Jesus, chief of the BIR Internal Investigation Division, they were not yet done with him.

De Jesus’ office handles investigations involving BIR employees.

No bomb was found, however, Sublay said. “The call was placed to the Internal Investigation Division, and the caller was looking for Daniel,” he said.

De Jesus was ambushed by motorcycle-riding men along East Avenue on the night of May 8 as he was driving home in his Toyota Innova. He survived the attack with a gunshot wound in the right shoulder and managed to drive himself to a nearby hospital to seek help.

Superintendent Limuel Obon, Kamuning police station commander, said De Jesus appeared to have no known enemies and had not received any death threats.

“We’re looking into the possibility that the bomb threat was intended for him,” Obon said, adding that the victim had not yet provided the police with any information about possible suspects behind the May 8 ambush.

Sublay said De Jesus was not around when Friday’s bomb threat was received at 9:20 a.m., with an unidentified man calling through a local line at the Internal Investigation Division’s legal assistance office.

A legal assistant working under De Jesus, Mary Glenda Coterio, said the man had asked for “Daniel” and warned that a bomb would go off at the BIR.

“Nandiyan pa ba si Daniel? Sabihin mo sa kanya na di pa kami tapos.Tigilan niya kami sa Customs.May itinanim kaming bomba diyan. (Is Daniel there? Tell him we’re not done yet and for him to stop hounding us at Customs. We’ve planted a bomb there (at BIR),” the caller was quoted to have said before hanging up.

Sublay’s team was called in to search the premises, after which the office was declared safe. Work at the office continued despite the search, which was conducted discreetly.

Case investigator Police Officer 2 Jogene Hernandez of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said they have not yet identified any suspects or motives in the ambush.

He said there were no surveillance cameras at the crime scene at the corner of East Avenue and Matalino Street. Surveillance cameras of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority at the corner of East Avenue and EDSA had no recorders.

Hernandez said police investigators were unable to talk to De Jesus at length about the ambush as the BIR executive was reluctant to talk for fear of his life.

Obon added that De Jesus took a leave from work following his discharge from the hospital.

“He has not reported for work ever since. We have yet to get his statement,” Obon said.

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