Bomb scare in Letran

A text message threatening an explosion in a private college in Calamba City prompted school officials to cancel the afternoon classes on Tuesday.

Supt. Marvin Saro, Calamba City police chief, in a phone interview, said an employee of Colegio de San Juan de Letran, before noon, reported receiving an anonymous text message that a bomb would explode.

“The message said something about a bomb that would go off between 1 to 2 p.m.,” Saro said. He said this prompted school officials to suspend the afternoon classes and send the students home.

As of 4 p.m., Saro said bomb experts were still conducting a “clearing operation” but had yet to find any explosive. Midterm examinations were also scheduled on Tuesday as announced on the school’s website. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon

Buy-bust yields ‘shabu’

PALAWAN–A combined unit of narcotics agents and provincial police operatives arrested on Monday a suspected drug pusher in a buy-bust operation that yielded from the suspect a stash of high-grade “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) valued at P400,000.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA) in Palawan identified the suspect as Ramy Jalandoni, a resident of Narra, Palawan. A PDEA source told the Inquirer they had been trailing the suspect for several weeks before they were able to set him up for a buy-bust using an agent posing as a buyer.

Jalandoni, who was profiled by the PDEA as a main shabu supplier operating in northern Palawan, was caught in a buy-bust operation in Roxas, northern Palawan, on Monday afternoon. The Palawan crime laboratory determined that the suspect was carrying 51 grams of shabu worth around P400,000 when he was caught. Redempto Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon

Suicide eyed in boy’s death

ZAMBOANGA CITY–A 14-year-old boy, believed to have been bullied in school, apparently committed suicide in Tungawan town, Zamboanga Sibugay province, on Monday, police said.

Town police chief Senior Insp. Rico Pondol said the boy, an eighth grader, left a note blaming his classmate and a neighbor. “A suicide note was recovered from the scene,” Pondol told the Inquirer on the phone.

Pedro Melchor Natividad, the assistant schools division superintendent, urged authorities to investigate the incident. “The bullies must be identified to prevent more incidents like this,” Natividad told the Inquirer on the phone. He also reminded schools to strictly advocate and observe antibullying guidelines.

Pondol said that according to the aunt, “the boy was being teased by his classmates.” The boy lived with an aunt as his father is in prison, while his mother is already dead. “The child seemed to have been depressed,” Pondol said. Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao