Bomb joke delays Cotabato flight by nearly 7 hours

A government employee who cracked a bomb joke at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) on Thursday ended up in the custody of the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group.

The incident delayed by almost seven hours the departure of Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight PR2959 for Cotabato.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said the suspect, Saidona Singgon, was an employee of the Department of Transportation in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Singgon earlier claimed he was assigned at Caap but the agency denied this in a statement.

The PAL flight was supposed to leave Manila at 7:30 a.m. but the bomb joke prompted a thorough inspection of the aircraft. It finally left Naia at 2:20 p.m.

In a statement, PAL apologized for the inconvenience to passengers who were forced to disembark after Singgon made the joke during boarding time.

“These incidents are taken very seriously as the security and safety of the passengers [are] the topmost concern of the airline and the authorities,” said Cielo Villaluna, the airline’s spokesperson.

Under the law, Singgon could be fined up to P40,000 or jailed for up to five years should a case be filed against him.