POLICE have arrested a 42-year-old man for dishing out a bomb joke at Davao International Airport over the weekend.
Investigation showed that the man was queued at an airline check-in counter prior to boarding his Singapore-bound flight when he joked about a bomb.
“Wala ni mabuak diri Ma’am, bomba lang, ay joke lang ma’am, sorry ma’am” (There are no fragile items inside Ma’am, only a bomb, joke only Ma’am, sorry Ma’am”), he said.
The customer service agent then checked the baggage of the man traveling with three others, but the passenger insisted it was just a joke.
“Subsequently, the concerning information prompted the customer service representative to alert airport security. The Davao International Airport Police Station intervened and arrested the passenger for violating Presidential Decree 1727, also known as the Anti-Bomb Joke Law,” the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said in a statement.
The passenger was brought to the Southern Philippines Medical Center for a medical examination and subsequently transferred to the Sasa Police Station for temporary detention.
Presidential Decree No. 1727 imposes a penalty of imprisonment for not more than five years, or a fine of not more than P40,000.00 for bomb jokes.