The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait was filled with tension after receiving a bomb threat from an anonymous caller on Monday morning.

A Kuwaiti bomb squad along with their canine searched the Philippine Embassy building and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jabriya. A fire truck from the Kuwait Fire Department and two ambulances from the Kuwait Emergency Medical Services (EMS) waited outside as the street leading to the embassy was blocked by police patrol cars.

Philippine Embassy Security Officer Abdulhalim Lancgo told ABS-CBN Middle East News Bureau that a member of the embassy’s staff received a call at around 9:00 a.m. (2:00 p.m. Manila time).

Langco said the man on the other line claimed that his Filipina wife left their home along with their kid and is now hiding at the Philippine Embassy. The caller then threatened that the embassy will explode within 30 minutes if they do not let his wife and kid out.

Langco said that the embassy staff initially disregarded the call and treated it as a bad joke. However, after a few minutes the man called again and this time, it was answered by a Consular official Maryval Adiong who heard the same threat.

Adiong immediately reported the threat to his colleagues. “The man called for the third time and even texted another embassy official Marietta Aldaya at around 10:30 a.m., so we decided to call the Kuwaiti authorities who rushed then to the scene,” he added.

As the Kuwait Bomb Squad searched the Philippine Embassy building and the POLO, more than 220 runaway maids who are temporarily sheltered at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) had to vacate the building and went out on the street. One of them became tense and fainted. The EMS staff who were on standby rushed to help her. Welfare Officer Yolanda Penaranda was also there to assist them.

Kuwaiti authorities scoured the two buildings for more than two hours and finally declared the embassy premises bomb-free and confirmed that the bomb threat was a hoax.

“The man who made the bomb threat was a prankster. We don’t have any ward who’s married to a Caucasian who sought refuge at the FWRC. He made a big trouble by disrupting the functions of the POLO and causing a lot of inconvenience to the wards who had to leave the building and be out on the street, ” said Labor Attaché Atty. Josephus Jimenez.

After the buildings were declared safe by the bomb squad, the wards returned to the FWRC while embassy and POLO officials and staff also went back to their respective buildings.

“We will take this bomb threat seriously and we have already informed the Kuwaiti authorities about this. We have provided them with the details so they can catch the culprit,” stressed Ambassador Ricardo Endaya.