Caretaker Favors Increasing Penalties Vs. “Bomb Jokes”

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Thursday expressed his support for a law to be passed in Congress increasing the penalties against those who spread “bomb jokes” and for the citizenry to be disciplined on the matter.

“If only to quell itong mga birong hindi maganda ho, dapat madisiplina tayo dito sa bagay na ito,” he said in a radio interview over DWFM anchored by Orly Mercado, a former Senator and Defense Secretary.

At the same time, ES Medialdea explained anew Memorandum No 3 – the guidelines for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) in the implementation of measures to suppress and prevent lawless violence.

“Ang pag-isyu po nito was by virtue of the spate of violence na nangyayari ho sa Mindanao,” he said.

“We can’t take this just sitting down anymore, we have to address it. So the President made the decision to declare a state of lawless violence,” the Executive Secretary said.

Based on the guidelines about the deployment of additional military and policemen, the Palace executive stressed “augmentation lang po ng police authorities sa mga areas na dapat nating tuntunan. May mga intelligence report na baka ulitin, siyempre preventive po itong mga measures na ito.”

“Memorandum Order No. 3, Section 5, we categorically stated that the constitutional rights of every individual should respected and given due regard by the Armed Forces and the police.”

As a safety reminder to the general public, he stressed: “In case of police and military checkpoints – inspection should be limited to a request to roll down vehicle windows, search for things in plain view only and production of documents and identification and vehicle registration papers.”

The Palace official added, “No further intrusive action shall be taken, such as demanding the opening of trunks or asking person on board to step out unless the subject individual consents or agrees thereto.” (PNA) RMA/PND/EDS