The Philippines is now coordinating with Japan for an investigation into the hoax bomb threats received by several government agencies in Manila.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO), in a statement, said the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) is coordinating with the Japanese government about the issue.
“Efforts are now on the way to request the Japanese government to investigate thoroughly and identify the sender…There is no cause for alarm as this sender and email has been tagged as hoax,” the CICC said.
Reports said among the agencies that received the bomb threats are Bataan’s Department of Education division office; Iba, Zambales’ local government; and Quezon City’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) head office.
According to the CICC, the email containing the bomb threats originated from Japan. It had a locally registered domain name that also hit multiple government agencies in Seoul, South Korea.
The CICC said similar bomb threats also hit several government agencies in 2023.
The Bureau of Immigration meanwhile is conducting an investigation against a Japanese man who allegedly sent the bomb threats.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that he has ordered a thorough investigation on the real identity of the Japanese whose name appeared from an email as a certain “Takahiro Karasawa.”
In the email, Karasawa claimed that bombs will rock major Philippine government agencies on Feb. 12, at around 3:34 PM. No such incident was reported.
However, Tansingco said the bureau will be working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether the suspect is indeed in the country.
“We will also be verifying if this is his real identity, or if he is a prankster using a fictitious name,” he added.
Tansingco warned that they would immediately be able to implement hold orders, blacklist orders, or arrest warrants issued against the suspect.
“The national government is not taking this lightly. Any security threat shall be met with the harshest penalties of the law,” he added.
The BI official said a quick check of their database revealed at least four namesakes, who are all not in the country. The bureau will forward results of their verification to the NBI and DOJ to assist in the investigation.
It was also learned that a similar name made threats to other countries a few years back.