Teen vlogger admits to hoax bomb threat in Iloilo

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A 19-year-old vlogger had admitted to sending a bomb threat in Iloilo province.

Police said the teenager, a resident of Barangay Poblacion East, Oton, Iloilo, confessed to sending a hoax bomb threat to Oton National High School.

Authorities said he runs his own social media page with about 58,000 followers.

Investigators said he copied a bomb threat message originally sent to a school in Calinog town and edited it before forwarding it to his target school.

The Oton Municipal Police Station fetched the suspect and brought him to the station on the afternoon of November 24.

PCol. Bayani Razalan, Iloilo police chief, said the teen works as a jeepney dispatcher.

He said the teen is no longer in school but was described as a “techie” by his older sister, who accompanied him to the police station.

Razalan said the boy, who has a cleft lip, appeared to have difficulty with comprehension.

“That’s why, ‘yung ate niya ang nagpapaliwanag at sumasagot sa mga tanong sa kanya,” he said.

As to motive, Razalan said police believe the “boy could easily get provoked. ‘Pag sinabihan siya na ito gawin niya, kung minsan ginagawa niya.”

From November 12 to 20, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office recorded 27 bomb threats involving 23 schools, a barangay hall, and a town plaza.