PRANKSTER STRIKES WITH A FAKE BOMB

A SWAT policeman holds the opened box of what was earlier thought to be a bomb. The box was found to only contain sand, gravel and nails.(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

After the bomb jokes, now comes a fake bomb.

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), yesterday warned the public against making false bomb threats or they will face the consequences of their actions.

“I appeal to everyone to stop bomb scares or jokes. These acts are punishable by law,” Taliño said after a fake bomb was found in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City yesterday.

With at least four cases of bomb scares in the city just over the last week, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña also asked the public to be more vigilant.

He said that while law enforcement authorities and government officials continue to be alert, they cannot completely ensure that no more bomb scares or threats will happen in the city.

“People should be aware. I’m not going to give assurance that there will be no bombs,” he told reporters yesterday.

Taliño said they intend to go after these pranksters as bomb threats and jokes incite fear in people and can cause commotion, panic, and even stampede.

At past 7 a.m. yesterday, an abandoned box thought to contain explosives triggered panic and caused an hour-long heavy traffic in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City. The box wrapped with a packaging tape was found outside the Concord Technical Institute along Cabreros Street.

A certain “Mister Cabaluna” called the Mambaling Police Station about the suspicious-looking package, said Councilor Dave Tumulak, the city council committee on peace and order chairman and the deputy mayor on police matters.

Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) immediately arrived in the area, cordoned off the place, and checked what was inside the box. But they did not find any explosives in it.
Instead, it contained sand, gravel, and three umbrella nails.

The police have yet to identify who placed the box outside the school.

Osmeña admitted that the city could not be 100 percent ready in case another threat or scare occurs.

“No one is ready for it. But the more alert we are, the better. We can never be ready for something like this. It’s (a bomb) only the size of a shoebox. You can put it anywhere,” the mayor noted.

Intentional

Like Taliño, Tumulak appealed to the public to stop making bomb scares since aside from causing widespread panic, it also disrupts police operations.

“Stop making false bomb threats or jokes. You’re causing the government and the public much inconvenience. When things like this happen, law enforcement offices are alerted. It hampers a lot of operations,” he said.

Tumulak said yesterday’s incident was intentional and clearly made to make fun of authorities since the box was heavily wrapped in masking tape, make to look like a C4 explosive and contained umbrella nails, which ensured it would respond to a metal detector.

At the same time, Tumulak urged the public to immediately report to the nearest police station or the command control center people who may be leaving things in public places and to hold them accountable for jokes like this.

He said these people should be arrested, interrogated and investigated.

He lamented that every time authorities have to respond to these reports, the government spends its resources, especially since because of the bombing incident in Davao City, law enforcement authorities will consider all reports as legitimate.

Tumulak also feared that if false reports like this continue, the police or other responding personnel may start to get lax and will be caught off guard when there is a real threat.

The councilor was likewise dismayed over prank calls made to the police and the Cebu City Command Control Center (C3).

On Sept. 5, C3 got a call at dawn claiming that a suspicious-looking bag was left inside the Fuente Osmeña Circle. Another came at 9 a.m., also of Sept. 5, involving a strange box allegedly left inside the parking area of the Cebu City Sports Center. Both reports turned out to be hoaxes when police personnel and members of SWAT went there to check.

Last Sept. 9, police arrested Jasmin Sala, a production worker from Mandaue City, for dropping a bomb joke at Robinsons Place Cebu.

Accompanied by a female companion, Sala had her sling bag checked by a security guard at the mall’s entrance before walking away saying: “Naa ra ba ni bomba (There’s a bomb inside my bag).”

She was taken into custody by the mall guards and was turned over to the custody of the police.

Sala’s bag didn’t contain any explosives. Inside her bag were a lipstick, makeup, and a cellphone. She, who remained jailed at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) headquarters, regretted making a bomb joke.

Three days later, 19-year-old Carl John Sacal was arrested 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).”

The law

Presidential Decree (PD) 1727, often referred to as the Bomb Joke Law, declares as unlawful the malicious dissemination of false information and willful threat concerning bombs, explosives or any similar device, through word of mouth, use of mail, telephone, telegraph, printed materials, and other means of communication.

PD 1727, issued in October 1980, provides a penalty of not more than five years imprisonment or a fine of not more than P40,000 or both depending on the court’s ruling.

Under this law, military tribunals or courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over cases of bomb jokes and threats. No bail was recommended for violators pending resolution of the charges.

But Cebu City Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas said not all provisions of PD 1727, which was enacted during the term of the late president Ferdinand Marcos, can be used at present.

“We no longer have military tribunals and courts now. Under the 1987 Constitution, where civilian courts are open, military tribunals can’t acquire jurisdiction over civilians,” she told Cebu Daily News.

Violations of PD 1727, Rabillas said, is now under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC). And since the offense carries a penalty of five years imprisonment, persons accused of making bomb jokes or threats can post a bail of P5,000, she added.

Rabillas refused to comment on whether or not stiffer penalties should be imposed on persons who make bomb jokes or threats as proposed by Sen. Grace Poe.

Last month, Poe filed Senate Bill 1060 that seeks to repeal and supersede PD 1727 by imposing stiffer penalties for any person making false bomb threats by providing a prison term of up to 12 years or a fine of up to P5 million.

Under the measure, Poe said no person should “willfully” communicate either directly or indirectly through mail, telephone, internet communication device or any means a threat or information involving a bomb, explosive or other incendiary device “when such threat is not in fact present, thereby causing either the evacuation or serious disruption” of a school, a dwelling, building place of assembly, facility or public transport or an aircraft, ship or common carrier, or “willfully communicates or causes serious public inconvenience or alarm.”

In filing the bill, Poe cited several bomb scares in the last months, which she said had threatened various places around the country.