Party-list representative briefly detained at airport for cracking bomb joke

Making bomb jokes at the airport is never funny. In fact, it’s illegal.

A party-list congressman was briefly held at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 in Pasay City yesterday after he allegedly made a bomb joke while checking in for a flight to Cagayan de Oro.

The erring lawmaker who dropped the joke was neophyte Representative Sergio Dagooc of the party-list group Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives, according to a statement Philippine Airlines (PAL) sent to ABS-CBN News.

Dagooc arrived at around 2:30pm at NAIA’s PAL counter where his carry-on bag was weighed by agent Pearl May Lansang, reported Rappler. Lansang told Dagooc that his bag was over the weight limit by 4 kilograms and suggested that the lawmaker check-in his baggage instead. The airline employee asked Dagooc what was inside his bag and he joked that it contained a bomb.

Maj. Querico Tomotorgo of the Philippine National Police Aviation Station 2 told radio station DZBB that upon hearing the joke, Lansang reported Dagooc to her supervisor and the terminal’s security commander.

Making bomb jokes at the airport is prohibited by Presidential Decree No. 1727. Those found guilty will be imprisoned for not more than five years or fined with not more than PHP40,000 (US$783.20).

Dagooc’s lawyer later appeared at the police station and told authorities that based on Section 11, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, a lawmaker is privileged from all arrests when Congress is in session if the crime is punishable by less than 6 years imprisonment. The authorities let Dagooc leave because his alleged crime was punishable for only a maximum of five years imprisonment and because the 18th Congress had started on Monday.

Tomotorgo told Rappler, however, that PAL still plans to file a case against Dagooc.

The airline company told all passengers to refrain from making such jokes.

“PAL, the Aviation Security Group and our civil aviation authorities do not take such utterances lightly,” it warned in its statement.

Dagooc’s case follows an incident involving another misbehaving lawmaker, Alfred de los Santos of the party-list Ang Probinsyano. De los Santos became viral earlier this month when he was caught on camera assaulting a waiter at a popular restaurant in Legazpi City, Albay.

Source: https://coconuts.co