ORMOC CITY- A vintage bomb was defused by bomb experts from exploding when they recovered it just 50 meters away from a public school this city in the morning of January 5. Construction worker Jason Crisostomo said that around 10 a.m. on that day, he saw a smoke emanating from an object covered by an umbrella placed in the roadside of Punta Elementary School located in Barangay Punta, a kilometer away from the city proper. Co-worker John Carillo ran for cover sensing that what Crisostomo discovered could be a bomb and might explode. A construction work is underway in the village. The discovery of the bomb created panic in the village as parents rushed to the school to pick their children. The said public school has around 500 students. The bomb was later diffused by the members of the city police explosive and ordnance division by soaking it to a pail of water so as to evade from possible explosion. The explosive was brought to the police station for safekeeping. It was believed that the bomb was of World War II vintage. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)