Abandoned bag causes bomb scare

MANILA, Philippines - An abandoned black bag caused a few minutes of tension at the Quezon City-bound bus loading bay along EDSA in Guadalupe, Makati yesterday afternoon.

The Makati Police Tactical Operations Center received a call about a suspicious-looking bag abandoned at the bus loading bay at about 3:10 p.m., Chief Inspector Libreto Buisan of the Makati Police bomb disposal unit said

A K-9 team and a team from the bomb disposal unit were sent to the scene to investigate. As a precaution, the police teams closed one lane of the highway to traffic and cordoned it off. 

Buisan said bomb-sniffing dogs did not detect any explosives in the bag, which measured two feet long and two feet high. The bag contained women’s clothes, undergarments and a mobile phone charger.

Buisan said the bag was most probably left accidentally by a commuter in a rush to catch a bus.

The owner of the abandoned bag was later identified as Ester Caduada, based on a Palawan Express Padala document found inside the bag.