A bomb scare that turned out to be a hoax disrupted work at the Hall of Justice in Bacolod City Tuesday morning, April 6.
Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court said at 8 a.m. Tuesday an employee of the Bacolod City Public Attorney’s Office received a cellular phone call through the PAO hotline number from an unidentified male instructing them to immediately vacate the building as a bomb was about to explode.
The PAO office is located on the third floor of the Hall of Justice.
The PAO member immediately informed Vincent Solis, the Hall of Justice building administrator, of the call, Javier said.
Javier said he then instructed all employees and persons in the Hall of Justice to immediately vacate the building.
The policemen on duty called in the Negros Occidental Police Bomb Squad Unit to conduct a sweep of the building, he said.
“After a thorough sweep of the whole building, including the parking lot areas, the bomb squad cleared the building and declared it safe for occupancy,” Javier said.
Court operations resumed two and half hours later at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, he said.
Investigation on the identity of the anonymous caller is still ongoing, he added.*