Asked of her assessment on these incidents, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said they treat bomb threat calls as “low level,” but still send EOD (Explosives and Ordnance Division) teams “to check and make sure it is cleared and safe.”
BY JOHN RIZLE L. SALIGUMBA
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Classes were abruptly suspended in one of Davao City’s biggest high schools when one of its teachers reported of receiving a text message saying that a bomb will explode within the school premises in three hours.
George Wong, the newly-installed principal of Davao City National High School (DCNHS) immediately called 911 for assistance and ordered the evacuation of students and other school personnel.
DCNHS have more than 7,000 students and 312 personnel including teachers and non-teaching staff.
Students who were at the school grounds were not informed of the situation to avoid panic, and instead were told to form a line and go outside the school premises in an orderly manner.
Police authorities with K9 units arrived shortly to survey the school grounds but found nothing.
Wong said police declared the place secure after inspection but waited for three hours, as indicated in the threat, before finally lifting guard.
Melanio Matignao, the guard on duty in one of the school’s main gates said he did not notice anything suspicious during his watch.
The DCNHS is the third school in the city which received threats from unknown sources. Last Friday, computer-printed texts warning of a bomb explosion were posted in some of the school’s classrooms in Francisco Bangoy National High School in Sasa village while a similar threat also occurred in Cabantian National High School on Monday.
Spokesperson of Department of Education-XI, Jenelito Atillo, calls on those behind the menace to spare schools as such incidents cause trauma to school children and school personnel.
“The schools are not appropriate venues to carve a political statement. We are only here to be of service. An hour of interruption of classes is already a big impact on the students’ learning, what more if we suspend it the whole day,” Atillo said.
Classes at the DCNHS were suspended for the day and would resume tomorrow.
Neil, a high school freshman said that the suspension of classes is both good and bad for them.
“We will have an exam tomorrow and our teachers were supposed to give us pointers for the exam. On the other hand, we can also rest as the incident was so stressing,” he said.
Asked of her assessment on these incidents, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said they treat bomb threat calls as “low level,” but still send EOD (Explosives and Ordnance Division) teams “to check and make sure it is cleared and safe.”
“The wave of school threats happened after a school in Manila received a threat and sent the students home. We surmise these are students wanting to disrupt classes or expecting that they be sent home,” the Mayor told davaotoday.com in a text message.
Asked further about the peace and order situation of the City following the spate of bomb threats, Duterte said they have tightened the security inside the city “due to threats from those who oppose the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement.”
The Philippine National Police, she said, has already put Mindanao on high alert for yesterday’s signing of the framework agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Duterte, in relation to the question, also forwarded a quote from Task Force Davao’s Col. Marcos Norman Flores, citing analysts’ statements on Davao City as “a buffer zone for all players” hence “it is expected to remain free from attacks from the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) or MILF, except for spoilers, which is very remote.” (John Rizle L. Saligumba/
