(UPDATE) Bomb threat suspends work at Ombudsman

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/01/2009 1:02 PM

Employees rushed out of the Office of the Ombudsman building in Quezon City after receiving a bomb threat on Wednesday afternoon, three days after a bomb exploded inside its compound.

A radio dzMM report said a bomb squad from the Quezon City Police District office searched the Ombudsman building on Agham Road in North Triangle Quezon City for an hour, but did not find any bombs.

The report said the Ombudsman has suspended work and has allowed its employees to go home due to the bomb threat. The threat was reportedly received by the Ombudsman shortly after noon.

A bomb made of C-4 exploded inside Ombudsman's compound Sunday morning, damaging parts of a water treatment tank, some glass windows on the second floor, and a shuttle bus used by employees.

Police said that according to witnesses, two men in a vehicle allegedly stopped near the gate of the OMB compound at around 5 a.m. and hurled the improvised explosive device (IED).

After the blast, police recovered two unexploded IEDs inside the compound of the Department of Agriculture compound and the One Burgundy Plaza.

Police and military officials have said that the three bombs have similar specifications and were all made of C-4, a military explosive.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, military spokesman, said Wednesday that the spate of bomb attempts in Quezon City may be part of a destabilization plot, which usually comes up before the President's State of the Nation Address.

Brawner said the bomb attempts are not a surprise to authorities since there has been a trend of destabilization attempts against the administration during past SONAs.

He said the bombs were "amateurly" constructed and were all made of C-4, which may be intentional to put the blame on the military. With a report from Alex Calda, radio dzMM

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