ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Bomb joke delays PAL flight carrying 71 congressmen 

Bomb joke delays PAL flight carrying 71 congressmen 

Published Aug 2, 2024 12:44 pm

At A Glance

  • TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte--A Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight that was supposed to carry dozens of House of Representatives members to Manila on Friday night, Aug. 2 ended up being delayed for a few hours after an elderly passenger made a bomb joke. 

IMG-d7c67dab8b53f2503676756a5cb8f5a7-V.jpgThe scene at Tacloban Airport after the bomb joke. (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte--A Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight that was supposed to carry dozens of House of Representatives members to Manila on Friday night, Aug. 2 ended up being delayed for a few hours after an elderly passenger made a bomb joke.

PAL flight PR 2988 was on schedule to leave Daniel Romualdez Airport here at 6:40 p.m., when a wheel-chaired elderly woman who was among the first to board the aircraft cracked a bomb joke to the flight attendants.

As standard operating procedure, the joke was taken as a serious threat by PAL staff.

Boarding procedures were promptly suspended for the rest of the passengers, which led to the flight being "put on hold".

A reported 71 congressmen, particularly those who joined the launch of the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF)-Eastern Visayas event here, were booked for the flight. They were shuffled to a holding room while responding law enforcers sorted out the incident.

At one point, bomb-sniffing dogs were deployed to check on the luggages of the passengers left stranded at the boarding gate. No explosives were found.

The plane can carry over 200 people.

The plane--with all the solons in tow--finally took off at past 8:40 p.m.

It landed safely at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City at 9:59 p.m.

READ THIS:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/2/quorum-achieved-as-241-house-members-attend-eastern-visayas-service-fair

The elderly woman who caused the furor ultimately wasn't allowed to board the flight.

Needless to say, the bomb joke created a lot of inconvenience and undue worry to the passengers.

But it was perhaps Taguig-Pateros Rep. Ricardo "Ading" Cruz Jr. who most eloquently summed up everybody's frustration when he said, "Gusto ko na umuwi, nami-miss ko na asawa ko, pero inabala pa ako ng bomb threat na ito!"

(I want to go home, I miss my wife, but this bomb threat has caused a delay!)

Related Tags

House of Representatives Tacloban City Bomb joke
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.