MANILA — The House of Representatives was placed under “heightened security alert” after some of its members received bomb threats, according to House Secretary General Reginald Velasco.
Although refusing to identify who actually received the threats, Velasco said there were “more than one” but that Speaker Martin Romualdez was not among those.
“There’ve been threats being received by members of Congress, by employees, by staff from groups. Of course we don’t mind them because that is (part of) the hazards of the job. It is part of working in the government,” Velasco said.?Asked if the threats are related to the heated issue on constitutional amendments and people’s initiative, he said: “We don’t know but what was said is that the House of Representatives will be bombed.”
He said the House takes all threats “seriously” to ensure the safety of its members, employees and staff.
Velasco still has to issue the memorandum about the heightened alert, but has already coordinated with the House’s sergeant-at-arms to “impose strict security to all those who are entering the premises, particularly the non-members of the House and who are not employees of this institution.”
“We just want to protect the members of House of Representatives, the staff and employees against any untoward incident,” Velasco stressed.
As a precautionary measure, motorcycles are no longer allowed to park near any building at the Batasan complex. Instead, an area was designated for their parking.
Delivery riders will also have to stay at the gate where they can wait for their contacts to pick up the goods to be delivered.
Velasco pointed out that this measure was imposed after security officers observed “some motorcycles going around the House premises.”
