Bomb defused at State College

From the Manila Bulletin (Oct 15): Bomb defused at State College

Kidapawan City, Cotabato — Bomb experts defused an improvised explosive device (IED) fashioned from a 60-mm mortar ammunition which caused panic at a a state-run college in the municipality of Arakan in North Cotabato yesterday morning.

Senior Inspector Rolly Oranza, local chief of police, said the IED was found at 7 a.m. inside a plastic box planted near the flag pole in front of the administration building of the Cotabato Foundation College for Science and Technology (CFCST).

Security guard James Ramos discovered the suspicious-looking package and reported it to school authorities for an immediate evacuation of students and teachers.

Two hours later, operatives of the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team from the Philippine Army were able to defuse the explosive, Oranza said.

The investigation on who planted the IED considers a group of CFCST scholars, many of them orphans, who held a rally calling for the ouster of the school president as possible suspects, Oranza said.

“Investigations are still ongoing. We want to dig deeper on this case,” he added.
“This was the first bomb threat in this school and it happened inside the campus. We know there are problems inside the CFCST but we have yet to find out if the IED recovery has something with the previous incident,” said Oranza.

After the bomb was rendered safe, classes have resumed at the CFCST, reports said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/bomb-defused-at-state-college/