A lawmaker on Wednesday filed a measure seeking to impose stiffer penalties against bomb jokes or dissemination of false information on bomb threats, explosives, or any other life-threatening or destructive materials.

Senator Raffy Tulfo — who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services — stressed that Presidential Decree (PD) 1727 also known as Bomb Joke Law which was passed in 1980 “is no longer up to date.”

In line with this, the lawmaker Senate Bill 2768, that bomb threats — which have been causing unnecessary disturbances and inconveniences in schools, malls, government offices, trains, airports and other crowded places — should be “treated as real.”

“Under the PD 1727, cases related to bomb threat filed in civilian courts are dismissed because the military tribunal has jurisdiction on the matter,” Tulfo said.

Citing records from the Philippine National Police, Tulfo lamented a total of six fake bomb threats in train stations and 11 cases of bomb jokes in airports between 2023 and 2024.