April fools’ joke? Bacolod capitol hit with bomb scare

BACOLOD CITY—Someone pulled what could be deemed as an April Fool’s prank on the provincial government that got off provincial employees from work early.
Capitol security chief Vinchito Magalona said a text message was passed on to him by Supt. Mario Baquiran, head of the provincial police mobile force, about 11:30 a.m. on Friday.
The text message read: “mr.Governor masama ang inyong umaga ngayon 11.30am at 3.pm may maganap na pag sabog ng c-4 bomb sa inyong kapiltoyo at maraming mamatay sa araw na ito. concern citizen po ito. mr. tamslaw (Mr. Governor, you would have a bad morning. Between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. a c-4 bomb would explode in the capitol and a lot of people would die. From a concerned citizen, Mr. Tamslaw).”
Magalona said he did not know who sent the text message to Baquiran but hundreds of Capitol employees were sent home early before noon as a precaution.
But police and bomb experts inspected every nook and cranny of the capitol building but did not find any bomb.
The capitol employees, however, were able to get off from their afternoon work.