Three boxes were spotted beside the Philippine National Police general hospital Wednesday afternoon but bomb experts later said they were duds.

A policeman wearing a bomb disposal suit conducted disruption procedures. The area was declared safe shortly before 5 p.m, one and half hours after these were found.

"We conducted safety procedures to totally eliminate the hazard," Supt. Edwin Ellazar, officer-in-charge of the

Explosives and Ordnance operating division, told reporters.

Police found electrical wires inside the boxes. Ellazar said policemen are looking at the closed-circuit television cameras to find out who left the boxes.

Earlier, a suspected improvised bomb was found near the PNP, creating brief tension.

Residents at 4th Avenue in Barangay Bagong Lipunan panicked when garbage collectors discoveted a package resembling a dynamite with a digital clock, wires and battery around 11 am.

Telina Sica, a resident, said: "We got scared. We thought it may explode.”

Garbage collector Arnold Golbin asked help from PO1 Kevin Ronald Tobias of the Aviation Security Group who was claiming a uniform from a store.

Tobias placed the package along the street between motorcycles and ordered people to stay away. He called officers in Camp Crame and an explosives and ordnance division/K9 Unit found the package a dummy and declared the place safe at 11:30 am

Ellazar said the package had seven pieces of cardboard which resembled dynamite. "These are ordinary cardboard with a digital timer," Ellazar said. He said this is similar to what they use during seminars. DMS