Pagadian tech team tracking down netizens for bomb threat posts

AGLOW | An eight-story tall Christmas tree is lighted to the delight of the crowd during the opening of Paskuhan 2023 in Pagadian City on Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. They were unaware of the online bomb joke being spread while the event was being streamed live on Facebook. (Photo by LEAH AGONOY / Inquirer Mindanao)

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines — The local government here is tracking down at least 20 people who posted a bomb scare at the height of the city’s Christmas lighting ceremony attended by a crowd of more than 10,000 at the city plaza on Friday.

A minor and an 18-year-old boy who posted the bomb threat had issued apologies, but Mayor Samuel Co said 20 others who posted the scare remained “at large” and would need to come to his office to make amends or face legal actions.

Presidential Decree No. 1727, or the Anti-Bomb Joke law, has declared as unlawful the malicious dissemination of false information or the willful making of any threat concerning bombs, explosives or any similar device or means of destruction, imposing corresponding penalties for violators, the mayor stressed.

Co said the city government would be taking these bomb scare posts very seriously as these endangered the safety of the public. Had anyone in the crowd opened his phone and believed those posts, it could have caused panic that could have easily led to a stampede, injuries, and even death, the mayor said.

At least 10,000 residents were watching the opening of Paskuhan 2023, which was streamed on Facebook on Friday, when a 14-year-old reportedly commented in the livestream with this post: “Countdown ako, i-defuse ang bomba (Countdown (now), I’m defusing the bomb).”

Co immediately ordered the city’s information technology (IT) team to trace the minor. “Even if he or she was just joking, this is not a good joke, especially on the recent incident,” the mayor said, referring to the Dec. 3 explosion inside the Mohamman Ali B. Dimaporo gymnasium of the Mindanao State University that killed four and wounded 50 others.

Sorry

Accompanied by her grandfather and school teachers, the minor apologized to the mayor and the public on Saturday.

The minor, a Grade 10 pupil in Labangan town of Zamboanga del Sur, said she was unaware of the outcome when she copied the text posted by another person in the comment on the live Facebook broadcast. It was only after hours later, when her parents, friends, and teachers called her attention that she realized that what she did was wrong.

She said that when she saw her post going viral, she immediately posted her apologies on social media but because of the influx of threatening messages, she decided to deactivate her account.

Co said the city’s IT team was still tracking the 20 more accounts who posted the scare and gave these persons until Wednesday to see him at his office or they would face charges.

More than 500 security personnel have been deployed around the city plaza to ensure the safety and security of the crowd who want to experience Paskuhan 2023, the city’s longest celebration that opened on Friday night and would end as the Pasalamat Festival on the city’s fiesta on Jan. 21, 2024.

The celebration highlights the city’s almost 26-meter tall (85 feet) Christmas tree and features daily entertainment provided by local talents, a food fair promoting the best and tastiest food from the city restaurants.

Lt. Col. Gilzen Niño Manese, city police chief, said that with the bombing incident in Marawi, they had put in place stricter security measures and assured tighter coordination with the intelligence community.