Bomb jester charged for violation of P. D. 1727

Bombs are not something to joke about.

This was the hard lesson a woman had to learn after cracking a bomb joke last week that yesterday earned her a criminal complaint for the gag that had no one laughing, including her now.

For allegedly violating Presidential Decree 1727, 37-year-old Jasmin Sala, a production worker from Mandaue City, was slapped with a criminal charge before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor.

According to Chief Inspector Ryan Devaras, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Investigation Detection and Management Branch (IDMB), his personnel filed the case against Sala yesterday afternoon .

With the filing of the complaint against Sala, the city prosecutor’s office will determine if there is sufficient ground to formally charge her before the courts.

PD 1727, signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1980, prohibits the malicious dissemination of false information or making threats about the presence of bombs, explosives and incendiary devices.

Verbal or written communication that conveys false information about the presence of bombs or similar devices is punishable, upon conviction, with imprisonment of up to five years and/or a fine of up to P40,000.

A violation of this law is non-bailable pending trial by “the military tribunals or military courts which shall have exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving any violation of provisions of this decree”.

The law, which came into being in the ’80s at a time of Martial Law in the country, is widely viewed by legal luminaries as “archaic” and unclear because of the issue of jurisdiction.

Sala, a single mother with two young children, was arrested last Friday after she told a security guard at the entrance of Robinsons Place Cebu during the customary inspection, that there was a bomb inside her bag; and then added as she headed inside the mall that it was just a “joke”. About 20 minutes later, Sala, who just had her ID picture taken as part of a visa requirement that she was processing at that time as she was set to work in Japan, was approached by the mall’s head security officer.

She was then invited for questioning before eventually turned over to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO). Sala’s joke could not have come at a worse time when intense
public condemnation and scrutiny over reckless behavior are rife following the Davao City bombing early this month.

Heightened security measures are also in place with President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of “a state of national emergency due to lawless violence.”

Over at the PNP regional headquarters, Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), cautioned people not to make any bomb
jokes or they will face the consequences of their actions like Sala.

“Making such kind of joke is not good. It could create panic and even stampede. Any bomb joke is punishable by law,” he warned.

Taliño added that the management of the malls where alleged bomb jokes were committed should pursue charges against the pranksters; otherwise,  “If they won’t, the charges won’t likely prosper,” he said.

Sala is currently detained at the CCPO stockade pending the resolution of the complaint against her.

Aside from Sala, 19-year-old Carl John Sacal was arrested Sunday by police for allegedly making a bomb joke at City Soho Mall along B. Rodriguez Street, Cebu City.

Sacal allegedly took a circular bluetooth speaker from his pants’ pocket, showed it to the security guard at the mall’s entrance, and said: “Nara o nagdala kog bomba (Look, I’m bringing a bomb).”