Cebu Port Exec Warns Passengers Against Making Bomb Jokes

(PNA) — A Cebu port official has advised passengers to refrain from making bomb jokes at the Cebu port terminal after two persons were jailed and charged in court for doing so.

Senior Inspector Evan Epe, Cebu port Intelligence and Investigation Section chief, said the arrest of the two passengers serves as a lesson to the public to refrain from making bomb jokes at the Cebu port terminals.

Bomb jokes are also not allowed in airports and bus terminals.

Charito Abao, 40, was arrested by port police after a fellow passenger complained about her for making bomb jokes Tuesday night at Pier 4 in the north reclamation area in Cebu City.

Abao was supposedly bound for Hubangon, Camiguin.

Epe said a passenger reported to them that Abao told them that a bomb was inside her bag.

Passengers, who were mostly women and elderly, felt uneasy after Abao cracked the joke and decided to report the suspect to the police.

Epe and his men responded immediately and asked Abao to accompany them to the office.

They later found out that there was actually no bomb inside her bag.

Instead of releasing her, Abao was forwarded to Waterfront Police Station and was charged with violation of Presidential Decree 1727 or the Anti-Bomb Joke Law, under which individuals can be held criminally liable for causing undue alarm for making bomb threats.

Last Thursday, one Jimboy Feloche, 24, of Barangay Pausto, Baybay, Leyte, was arrested for uttering the same joke while he was allegedly drunk at Pier 3.

Feloche, who was bound for Leyte, was having his bag checked by X-ray scan as part of the procedure at the port when he said that the bag contained a bomb. He was released after posting bail. (PNA) LAP/EB