BY FELIPE CELINO
ROXAS City — Panic crept up on judges, prosecutors and employees, as well as visitors in the Hall of Justice here yesterday morning due to a bomb threat.
Authorities later found out that the threat announced via a telephone call was from a prankster.
An unidentified woman called the Public Attorney’s Office, reporting that a bomb will explode inside the building.
Then she called the City Prosecutor’s Office, relaying the same message.
A few minutes later, the caller reached the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branches 17 and 19, and two branches of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court in Cities.
Ricardo Abool of Branch 17 and Ruth Albania of Branch 19 received the calls in their respective offices.
They said the female caller had an “angry” tone.
RTC Branch 17 Executive Judge Edward Contreras ordered everyone in the building to immediately vacate the Hall of Justice premises.
Contreras then called for police assistance. City policemen led by their director, Supt. Salvador Dagoon Jr., searched the building.
Dagoon later declared that they found no bomb and that the edifice was safe.
Contreras suspected that the prank phone caller may have been a litigant disgruntled by a verdict that one of the prosecutors had handed down.
