Panic on EDSA

For a brief moment, passengers of a public utility bus thought their worst nightmare had come true yesterday.

Fortunately, lightning didn’t strike twice against the Golden Hi-Way Bus Co., which lost one of its buses to a bomb attack last Oct. 18. The blast left two passengers dead, scores wounded and triggered a bomb scare that gripped the entire metropolis for more than a month.

Yesterday, passengers scrambled to get off a Golden Hi-Way bus (TVN 576) after one of them shouted that a "bomb" had been planted inside the vehicle, which was cruising along EDSA in Mandaluyong City.

People were spilling out of the lone door and open windows of the ordinary-fare bus even before its driver, Richard Mendoza, 32, could step on the brakes in front of the Star Mall at about 9:50 a.m.

Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco was presiding over a command conference for their security preparations employed in yesterday’s 34th founding anniversary of the communist movement when he received the report of the bomb threat.

Velasco ordered Chief Superintendent Rolando Sacramento, director of the Eastern Police District (EPD), to dispatch an Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD) team and K-9 units to the area. No explosive device was found.

Sacramento said the bomb scare began when a passenger seated at the third row of the bus noticed a blue bag left behind one of seats.

When the passenger opened the bag, he was surprised to see wires protruding from inside. The unidentified passenger then announced his discovery, sending fellow passengers into a panic.

The bus driver said some passengers did not hesitate to jump out of the window of the southbound bus.

Sacramento said responding policemen isolated the bus before bomb experts examined the bag, which later turned out to contain a sewing machine motor, several clothes and a planner.

After making sure that the bus was safe, Sacramento ordered the passengers to board the vehicle and allowed the driver to contine their delayed trip.