Bomb hoax hits Davao-Manila flight of Cebu Pacific

By Ronron
March 2, 2005

Cebu - A supposed explosive lechon (roasted pig) on board a Davao-Manila flight of Cebu Pacific Wednesday afternoon caused aviation authorities to raise an alarm and order an emergency landing of Flight 5J-964 at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

The lechon cargo of passenger Hernan Inso, according to a text message received by a cargo handler of Cebu Pacific-Davao a few minutes after the said flight took off from Davao International Airport at 1:50pm, was said to contain a bomb, said 7th Police Center for Aviation Security (PCAS) chief Supt. Arturo Evangelista.

Following standard procedures on bomb threats, aviation authorities immediately advised the Cebu Pacific aircraft to touch down at the international airport here, which happened at 2:25pm, for proper checking.

Evangelista told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview that all 78 passengers were then asked to disembark the plane with their hand-carry luggage, and were subsequently subjected to a physical check.

All cargo as well, especially the lechon of Inso, underwent the same procedure.

Evangelista said both Inso and his lechon cargo yielded negative in the respective checks.

Inso, 28, a seaman, told investigators he had no idea who initiated the hoax and what could the motive be, added Evangelista.

"We cleared Mr. Inso and we apologized to him for the hassle of being interrogated. But we explained to him and the rest of the passengers that it was necessary for everybody's safety," Evangelista said.

After the clearance, the said flight was then able to take off for Manila at 4:37pm and arrived about an hour later.

Authorities are now investigating the hoax, particularly by trying to trace the owner of the number that sent the bomb threat./DMS