WORD ON HOTEL MIRROR LEADS TO ARREST OF AUSTRALIAN MAN, 2 FILIPINAS
A team from the Fuente Police Station arrested an Australian national and two Filipina companions after housekeeping found the word “Bombing” scrawled on the mirror of their hotel room in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City. As busy as they were with security preparations for President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit today, the police managed last Sunday night to call a bomb disposal squad from the Philippine Army. The squad found nothing alarming in the hotel room. Jaime Allan Morgan, 48, said that one of the women, Carmiel Pasco, 19, scrawled the word on the mirror just for fun. Pasco’s companion Myla Tugbong, 20, was also arrested. All three will be charged with violating Presidential Decree 1727, which prohibits bomb jokes.
The Fuente Police arrested an Australian national and his two companions after he wrote the word “bombing” on the mirror of the hotel room where they were staying in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City last Sunday evening.
Police arrested Jamie Allan Morgan, 48, Carmiel Pasco, 19, and Myla Tugbong, 20, after the hotel’s housekeeper discovered the writing when she went in to clean the room past 2 p.m.
“The housekeeper was shocked, so she called the security manager who immediately alerted us of what they discovered. We were at the height of our preparations for the arrival of President Rodrigo Duterte so it really caused alarm,” Atty. Maria Theresa Macatangay, chief of the Fuente Police, said.
A bomb squad from the Philippine Army was called to secure the room of any presence of improvised explosive device (IED), or bomb components, while guests and employees were evacuated for their safety, the Fuente police chief said.
“The room was clean and the bomb squad didn’t find anything. But of course, we treated it seriously,” Macatangay said.
At 8 p.m., Morgan was arrested while the two women were caught in a follow-up operation.
Macatangay said that Morgan admitted scrawling the word just for fun, but the three forgot to erase it.
“We had his background checked in the Interpol and he doesn’t have any derogatory records. But again, the incident caused panic to the public,” the Fuente chief said.
Morgan said that it was Pasco who reportedly wrote the word on the room’s mirror.
The three will face charges for violation of Sec. 1, or Presidential Decree (PD) 1727, the Anti-Bomb Joke Law, and for alarm and scandal under the Revised Penal Code.
We were at the height of our preparations for the arrival of President Rodrigo Duterte so it really caused alarm. FUENTE POLICE CHIEF MARIA THERESA MACATANGAY