Bomb scare hits QC school

(Updated 6:36 p.m.) Tension gripped a preparatory school in Quezon City after officials there received a phoned in bomb threat, radio station dzBB reported. School officials of the Diliman Preparatory School along Commonwealth Avenue sent 3,200 students home after a mysterious caller claimed at around 9 a.m. that a bomb had been planted inside the premises. Principal Emelita Bernabe said panic among the students was avoided after officials concealed from the children the reason they are being sent home. A girl suffered a scratch on her knee while on her way out of the school building. No one else was reported hurt during the incident. Classes were officially suspended. The Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team were unable to find any explosive devices on the school grounds, the report said. The school officials immediately reported the information to members of the Quezon City Explosive Ordnance Division. Former Sen. Anna Dominique "Nikki" Coseteng, is the chair of the Diliman Educational Corporation, which in turn runs the Diliman Preparatory School and the Diliman Computer Technology Institute. The school, established in 1969, offers elementary and secondary level education. Interviewed by GMA News, Coseteng said the police at first asked her not to send students home right away, since only one percent of bomb threats turn out to be true. "My point is that our number one [priority] is the lives of the children, our students," Coseteng said in Filipino. Bomb squad and SWAT personnel were not immediately available for comment. - GMANews.TV