BIR Makati office gets bomb threat

MANILA, Philippines - Employees of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Revenue District Office 48 were evacuated from their building along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City shortly before noon yesterday following a bomb threat.

Personnel from the city police’s explosive and ordnance division, with bomb-sniffing dogs, searched the building’s seven floors for explosives. After about an hour, the EOD team found no explosives and declared the building safe for the employees.

According to Senior Police Officer 3 Iking Fernandez, head of the city police EOD, the bomb threat sent by telephone was received by fiscal examiner Amor Salundagit of the finance office, located at the ground floor.

Fernandez said the caller, who was described by Salundagit as male, warned her that a bomb had been planted and was set to explode inside the building. The BIR building’s security staff then called the Makati police.

According to Fernandez, it was the first time that the BIR’s Revenue District 48 office was disturbed by a bomb threat.