Imposing a Penalty on Malicious Dissemination of False Information, Willful Making of Any Threat Concerning Bombs, etc.

October 8, 1980

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1727

DECLARING 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 AND IMPOSING PENALTIES THEREFOR

WHEREAS, in the wake of recent bombings, arsons, and other terroristic acts committed by radicals and other lawless elements in the country, such radical and lawless elements, and other persons popularly known or described as "pranksters", have been conveying, propagating or otherwise disseminating false information or willfully making threats regarding the alleged presence of bombs, explosives, incendiary devices, or any similar device or means of destruction in buildings, tenements, and other places, by word of mouth or through the use of telephones, telegraph, the mail, and other means of communication, for the purpose of causing or creating public confusion and disorder;

WHEREAS, such acts and activities of the radical and lawless elements, and other persons pose a grave and positive danger to public safety and security, and it is necessary that the government immediately adopt and enforce adequate and effective measures to curb these criminal acts and activities, and to deter the radicals and other lawless elements in the country from pursuing their destructive designs and their heinous aims and ends;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree as follows:

SECTION 1. Any person who, by word of mouth or through the use of the mail, telephone, telegraph, printed materials and other instrument or means of communication, willfully makes any threat or maliciously conveys, communicates, transmits, imparts, passes on, or otherwise disseminates false information, knowing the same to be false, concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property, by means of explosives, incendiary devices, and other destructive forces of similar nature or characteristics, shall upon conviction be punished with imprisonment of not more than five (5) years, or a fine of not more than forty thousand pesos (P40,000.00) or both at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction over the offense herein defined and penalized.

SECTION 2. The offender shall be arrested by means of an Arrest, Search and Seizure Order (ASSO) and shall not be entitled to bail pending trial by the military tribunals or military courts which shall have exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving any violation of the provisions of this decree.

SECTION 3. This decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 8th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty. 

 

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 76, No. 44, p. 8228 on November 3, 1980.