Silay City high school disrupted by bomb threat

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY – Classes at Doña Montserrat Lopez Memorial High School in Barangay Rizal, Silay City, Negros Occidental, were disrupted on Tuesday, Dec. 9, after an anonymous caller phoned in a bomb threat.

Police Lt. Col. Mark Anthony Darroca, chief of the Silay City Police Station, said the first call came at 10:15 a.m. from an unidentified woman who abruptly ended the conversation.

A second call, made minutes later, claimed a bomb had been planted at the school’s guardhouse.

School staff in the records section immediately alerted security personnel, who then contacted police.

The principal suspended classes while authorities conducted a full sweep of the premises.

An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team spent about two hours inspecting the guardhouse, school grounds, and surrounding areas before declaring the site safe.

Darroca said the incident mirrors a similar threat made at Silay Institute last month and may have been a prank, though investigations are ongoing.

Two other schools in Negros Occidental—West Visayas State University-Himamaylan campus and Central Philippines State University in Kabankalan City—also received bomb threats last month.

In response, the Police Regional Office–Negros Island Region (PRO–NIR) has intensified cyber-monitoring, digital forensics, and technical investigation measures.