January 22, 2002, AFP, Philippine Senate evacuated in bomb scare,

January 22, 2002, AFP, Philippine Senate evacuated in bomb scare,

MANILA, Jan 22 (AFP) -

Philippines senators briefly evacuated the legislative building Tuesday after a bomb scare, but no explosives were found, officials and radio reports said.

The military bomb squad was called in to retrieve two suspicious boxes from the exclusive basement parking section of the 24-member Senate, but the packages turned out empty.

All 24 senators and their staff fled the building as a precaution, the senate sergeant-at-arms office told AFP. They were made to wait at a parking lot outside for several minutes before the bomb squad declared the all-clear and allowed them to return inside.

Radio station DZBB said that Air Force bomb-sniffing dogs detailed at the Senate came upon the two boxes during routine surveillance.

The canined sat down beside the boxes, a signal that they smelled explosives inside, the station said, quoting senate officials.

Air Force Sergeant Marlo Diaz told the station that an empty plastic bag found inside one of the boxes may have previously been used to hold bullets or explosives, and that lingering traces of this may still remain on the bag, alerting the dogs.

Diaz would not speculate on how the plastic bag ended up there.