THE National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) on Tuesday rescheduled the formal filing of criminal complaint against controversial blogger Drew Olivar over a bomb-scare posting in his social-media account.
Olivar is being accused of violating Section 1 of Presidential Decree 1727, which prohibits malicious dissemination of false information or the willful utterance of any threat concerning bombs, explosives in relation to Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2010.
Senior Insp. Myrna Diploma of the NCRPO-Public Information Office admitted the Department of Justice did not accept the complaint due to some lacking documents.
“We need to coordinate with the Anti-Cybercrime Unit to complete our evidence for the filing of the case before the Department of Justice,” Diploma said.
The complaint that is expected to be filed in the coming days stemmed from Olivar’s Facebook post on September 20 warning protesters planning to gather on Edsa of a possible bombing similar to the blast in Plaza Miranda in 1971 where several people were killed and injured.
Olivar’s post drew criticisms and calls for the police to criminally hold Olivar liable for the bomb scare.
The blogger immediately apologized for his post and denied that it was intended to alarm netizens and discourage people from joining protests.
If found guilty, Olivar is facing a penalty of imprisonment of up to five years and/or a fine of up to P40,000.