‘There’s a bomb inside my bag’

A BUSINESSMAN was arrested and charged before the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office for joking that he had a bomb inside his bag while the aircraft he was in was about to take off for Iloilo City yesterday morning.

Supt. Elias Abad Jr. of the Philippine Center for Aviation Security (PCAS) 7 said that Marcelo Galang, a businessman from Quezon City, told the cabin crew of Cebu Pacific that his clutch bag contained a bomb.

Crew member Diane Magtulis immediately reported the matter to the pilot, who at that time was taxiing moments before the 8 a.m. flight to Iloilo.

Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) General Manager Danilo Augusto Francia said they learned through their own inquiry that Galang’s joke alarmed the pilot and the crew.

As part of procedure, the aircraft crew aborted the flight.

All passengers had to go back to the airport terminal while the aircraft and cargoes were inspected by security personnel and trained dogs, Francia said.

The aircraft was finally allowed to leave for Iloilo City at 10 a.m., leaving Galang behind.

Mandaue City Vice Mayor-Elect Carlo Pontico Fortuna was scheduled to leave Iloilo for Cebu at 9 a.m. yesterday, on board the same aircraft. But because of the delay, he was only able to board at 11:00 a.m. and arrived in Mactan at 11:45 a.m.

“It was a bad joke and a hard lesson for him,” said Fortuna, who was apprehensive that he would miss the 2 p.m. council session yesterday.

Abad said that Galang was escorted to the City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday afternoon and was charged with violation of Presidential Decree 1727.

PCAS and Cebu Pacific jointly filed the complaint.

Abad said that if found guilty, Galang could be jailed for five years or fined P40,000 or both, at the discretion of the court.

Abad said, though, that he believes that Galang was simply joking and was unaware that he already committed a crime.

“I think it was a lapse... on Galang’s part,” he said.

Because of the incident, Abad said they will put up notices in strategic areas of the airport such as the boarding gates, informing the public that joking about bomb threats is a crime.

On March 2, 2005, the pilot of a Manila-bound Cebu Pacific flight from Davao City made an emergency landing at the Mactan Airport after the airline office received a text message that a bomb was stuffed inside a lechon.

No explosive was found inside the lechon, but the incident alarmed the 78 passengers and crewmembers on board the aircraft.

A Cebu Pacific flight bound for Manila was also delayed for hours last Jan. 23, 2003, after a Cebu City resident joked that his bag contained a bomb.

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