Airline companies may want to be more direct in warning passengers not to make jokes about bombs or use words that may be construed as bombs in light of last week’s arrest of a businessman from Surigao.
Arnold Go, 42, was arrested after he was overheard saying “bomb” by the cabin crew who asked him to place his bag in the overhead bin.
Go, who spent the night in jail, said he was just misunderstood. He said he tried to tell them in Cebuano that he had valuables in his bag by saying, “Naay bulawan akong bag (I have valuables in my bag).” Is this a reprise of that well-told joke about a radio broadcaster who denied alarming the public with shouts of “tsunami”? (He said he was calling out for his daughter “Chona May”).
“Bulawan” doesn’t sound like “bomba”, the Tagalog word for bomb but regardless, all passengers were made to deplane and all their luggage was examined as a precaution.
It’s useful to explain Presidential Decree 1727 or the “bomb threat” law signed by the late president Ferdinand Marcos in 1980. It states that a person can be held liable for making a threat or passing on false information about an attempt or alleged attempt to kill, injure or intimidate someone or damage or destroy any building, vehicle or property by means of explosives.
The threat can be made verbally or through any means of communication and the law carries a penalty of a minimum fine of P40,000 and a maximum of five years imprisonment or both as determined by the court.
A similar incident involving actor and model John Estrada occurred at the General Santos City airport in May 2007. He was arrested a year later for possession of ammunition at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Bomb jokes aren’t confined to airplanes. Last August, two passengers identified as Jimboy Fulache and Charito Abao were detained after making bomb jokes at the Cebu pier.
PD 1727 was issued 30 years before the Sept. 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. A decade and three years after that tragedy, one would think that Filipinos have learned not to make these bomb jokes in either airports, piers or bus terminals and other public places.
They may even claim ignorance of PD 1727, but as the legal maxim goes, “ignorance of the law excuses no one.” With Christmas and New Year holidays a month away, expect more travelers to be filling air and seat terminals. It only takes one person to crack a bomb joke to send others into panic and inconvenience them or endanger their lives.
An intensified education campaign may be needed to convey the serious consequences of such false alarms. It’s the height of irresponsibility to joke about explosives in public transportation and may desensitize passengers enough not to recognize whether one is a joke or a real threat until it’s too late.
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