Bomb scare disrupts 10 flights in Bicol

MANILA, Philippines — Flights and operations at the Bicol International Airport were disrupted yesterday due to a bomb scare, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

The cabin crew of Cebu Pacific’s domestic flight 5J 326, scheduled to depart from Bicol to Manila, immediately alerted the pilot and control tower after a passenger left a written “bomb” note in the plane’s tissue compartment inside the lavatory, CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio said.

Apolonio said 130 passengers on board the flight are being investigated.

He said 10 arriving and departing flights were asked to turn around due to the bomb threat, in accordance with security protocols.

As of yesterday afternoon, the Bicol airport had resumed operations while the probe is ongoing.

The CAAP said it is coordinating with the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group to identify the culprit.

Meanwhile, classes in a Quezon City school were disrupted yesterday due to a bomb threat, police said.

Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan, director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), said the bomb scare at the San Francisco High School in Barangay Bago Bantay occurred at around 6:23 a.m.

Maranan said a teacher received the threat through a Facebook account.

The teacher confided the threat to a co-worker, who immediately alerted the police.

Personnel of the QCPD’s explosive and ordnance disposal unit searched the school for any explosives but found no bomb.

The school was declared safe at around 10:30 a.m., police said.

The QCPD has asked the police Anti-Cybercrime Group for help in identifying the person behind the bomb threat.

It is the second time the school was hit by a bomb threat this year.

Last January, a Facebook user sent a message to the school’s assistant principal warning that a bomb was placed by terrorists on the campus.