So a security guard of a branch of the AMA Computer College here, who received the package, alerted authorities about it. The package, it turned out, contained an improvised explosive device. Police later detonated it.
Reports said the package was sent via a courier service. Hearing a ticking sound from inside the package, the guard opened it and found a black-painted canister, similar to an insecticide can, with a clock attached to it.
The guard, according to Superintendent Noli Taliño, city police chief, immediately brought the box out of the AMA building and called up the police.
Taliño said a picture of an official of the school in Mayombo district was attached to the clock.
Bomb experts placed the package in the middle of a rubber tire and using a C-4 explosive, detonated it. Police collected the fragments for examination.
"Inunahan na natin ang pagsabog para walang madisgrasya (We pre-empted the explosion so no one will be hurt)," Taliño said.
Newsmen tried to get statements from officials of the AMA Computer College branch but they refused to say anything. — Cesar Ramirez