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Police arrest DILG employee who cracked bomb joke at Duterte event

An employee of the Department of Interior and Local Government landed in jail after she made a bomb ahead of an event that was going to be attended by barangay leaders and President Rodrigo Duterte.

Authorities arrested DILG operations officer Elsie Castillo after she allegedly cracked a joke and told two police officers to check her bags carefully because there was a bomb inside of it, reported ABS-CBN News.

Castillo made the bomb joke before President Duterte arrived at the Cuneta Astrodome for the Barangay Summit on Peace and Order.

According to Philippine law, cracking bomb jokes is a punishable crime as it violates Presidential Decree (P.D.) No. 1727, otherwise known as the Anti-Bomb Joke Law.

Under this law, any person who engages in “malicious dissemination of false information or the willful making of any threat concerning bombs, explosives or any similar device or means of destruction” may face imprisonment of not more than five (5) years, or a fine of not more than ₱40,000.00 or both.

The government decided to act upon it as such acts “pose a grave and positive danger to public safety and security”.

Section 2 of RA 1727 states that the “offender shall be arrested by means of an Arrest, Search and Seizure Order (ASSO) and shall not be entitled to bail pending trial by the military tribunals or military courts which shall have exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving any violation of the provisions of this decree.”

Staff Report

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