The Hall of Justice (HOJ) in Bacolod City got another bomb threat Wednesday morning, August 25.
A lawyer at the Bacolod City Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) received a landline phone call from their hotline number at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday instructing them to immediately leave their office because there was a bomb that was about to explode at 9 a.m., Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier said.
The PAO staff member immediately informed the HOJ security services, he added.
Javier said he then gave instructions to all HOJ employees and visitors to immediately leave the building.
A composite bomb disposal team composed of the Negros Occidental Police Bomb Squad Unit, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Army Explosive and Ordinance Division and the Philippine Coast Guard was immediately formed to conduct a sweep of the premises, Javier said.
After a thorough sweep of the whole building, including the parking areas, the bomb team cleared the building and declared it safe for occupancy, he added.
Javier said he then ordered all the employees to resume court operations at around 11:30 a.m. of the same day.
Investigation of the identity of the anonymous caller is still ongoing, he said.
A bomb scare that turned out to be a hoax also disrupted work at the Hall of Justice in Bacolod City on April 6.*