BY GLENDA TAYONA and RUBY SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – Three successive bomb scares have alarmed the city government. Mayor Jose Espinosa III warned those engaged in this kind of activity they would be arrested and jailed for violating Presidential Decree No. 1727.
Yesterday at 8:41 a.m. the University of San Agustin on General Luna Street received a bomb threat through Facebook, its second in less than 24 hours. It suspended classes and ordered an evacuation of students and teachers.
The police managed to track a suspect and arrested him late afternoon in Molo district.
“If you’re apprehended, you will surely rot in jail. So you better stop,” said Espinosa yesterday.
Presidential Decree No. 1727 prohibits “malicious dissemination of false information or the willful making of any threat concerning bombs, explosives or any similar device or means of destruction.”
SUSPECT FALLS
Around 6 p.m. policemen arrested a 28-year-old man at Molo Church after tracing where the Facebook threat on the University of San Agustin came from.
A “person with special needs” was how Senior Superintendent Martin Defensor, city police director, described the suspect thus he declined to name him.
The man was a resident of Landheights Subdivision in Barangay Quezon, Arevalo district.
Policemen seized the man’s laptop and took him to the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO).
The suspect was accompanied by his worried and apologetic mother.
“Joke-joke lang,” the suspect told Panay News when asked why he sent out the threats.
He asked for forgiveness.
“Patawad, patawad. Indi na ‘ko magliwat,” he said.
The University of San Agustin got the first bomb threat past 4 p.m. on Wednesday also on its official Facebook page.
“Ang bomb scare ulobrahon ina sang may diperensya utok,” said Espinosa.
According to Defensor, the suspect sent a third threat to the University of San Agustin around 1 p.m. yesterday.
It was through this threat that the police managed to trace the suspect who became shoddy and failed to cover his online tracks.
Despite his condition, the suspect would be charged with violating Presidential Decree No. 1727, said Defensor.
The Facebook account used for the bomb threats against the University of San Agustin yesterday had the name “Andalmalek Al-Ahdal.” The post claimed an explosive device was left at Mendel Hall.
The Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD) of the ICPO checked the hall and found none.
In the Facebook bomb threat on Wednesday afternoon, the EOD also found no bomb at Rada Hall where a certain “Felix Tan” claimed it was left.
Police Station 1 chief Superintendent Jonathan Pablito said the two bomb threats appeared aimed at solely disrupting the university’s classes but for still unclear reasons.
JAIL TIME AND FINE
“To purveyors of bomb scares, stop it. It won’t result to anything good for you and the city,” said Mayor Espinosa.
He had a meeting with Defensor and urged the police to be vigilant prior to the arrest of the suspect in the University of San Agustin bomb threats.
Presidential Decree No. 1727 penalizes violators with imprisonment of not more than five years or a maximum fine of P40,000.
Section 1 of the decree read: “Any person who, by word of mouth or through the use of the mail, telephone, telegraph, printed materials and other instrument or means of communication, willfully makes any threat or maliciously conveys, communicates, transmits, imparts, passes on, or otherwise disseminates false information, knowing the same to be false, concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property, by means of explosives, incendiary devices, and other destructive forces of similar nature or characteristics, shall upon conviction be punished with imprisonment of not more than five years, or a fine or not more than P40,000 or both at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction over the offense herein defined and penalized.”
Military tribunals or military courts have exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving any violation of Presidential Decree No. 1727, stated its Section 2.
ATENEO SUSPECT STILL UNIDENTIFIED
Mayor Espinosa said the pranksters could be riding on the bomb scares in other parts of the country.
“Basi moda naman bomb threats kay sa iban nga areas daw may mga bomb threats. Seguro nagasunod-sunod sa uso,” he said.
On Tuesday morning, Ateneo de Iloilo – Santa Maria Catholic School in Barangay San Rafael, Mandurriao district cancelled classes and ordered an evacuation due to a bomb threat.
Security guard Johnny De Pablo found an abandoned green bag at Gate 2 of the school around 9:05 a.m.
Its contents alarmed him – a cellular phone wrapped in electrical tape and two red and white leg wires connected to a plastic bottle. He immediately alerted school officials.
The contraption turned out to be a faux improvised explosive device.
Identifying the suspect could be difficult. The school had no security camera at Gate 2, according to the police./PN
I should ask if this is also the man who called in our school University of San Agustin Extension Campus that there is a bomb inside the school grounds? Thank you