Vloggers charged for committing public prank in Las Piñas City

Recently in the city of Las Piñas, a group of vloggers organized a public prank in the form of a criminal act on the street only to realize that there was an actual police officer (in civilian clothes) who was armed. The police officer confronted them causing one of the vloggers to explain that what just happened was all a hoax as their group had been doing public pranks and shared videos of them online. They have since been charged for causing a disturbance in public. All of these and more were reported by GMA News.

To put things in perspective, posted below is the excerpt from the GMA News report. Some parts in boldface…

Several vloggers are facing complaints for their April 6 prank in which they pretend to be kidnappers, causing a police officer to draw his weapon and respond to the fake crime.

According to Jun Veneracion’s “24 Oras” report on Friday, the bonnet-wearing pranksters alighted from a car along a Las Piñas City street and pretended to kidnap someone.

While panicked locals fled from the scene, Police Staff Sergeant Ronnie Conmigo of the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group, who lived nearby, showed up with a gun.

One of the vloggers tried to calm Conmigo down and explained it was all a prank.

“Hanggang sa nagsabi na lang na, ‘Sir prank ito! Prank ito!’ Gumaganoon sa akin. Medyo nahimasmasan ako. Sabi ko, madidisgrasya ko pa ang mga ito,” Conmigo said.

(Until he said, “Sir, it’s a prank! It’s a prank!” It calmed me down. Thankfully, I did not hurt anyone.)

Conmigo, who has been in the service for 26 years, was angry as he almost harmed the vloggers because of their prank.

“Kung iba po yun sakaling trigger happy yung pulis o may iba pang hindi pulis nabaril sila,” he said.

(If it was someone else, a trigger-happy police officer or an armed civilian, they could have been shot.)

Conmigo filed complaints against the five vloggers for alarm and scandal over their prank.

“Para hindi na po maulit yung ginagawa nila sir kasi maraming gumagaya pangit din sa mata ng bata yun tsaka napaka delikado sir,” he added.

(To prevent copycats. It sets a bad example. And it’s dangerous.)

The Philippine National Police (PNP) warned that such pranks could lead to criminal cases.

“Binabalaan po natin yung mga vloggers at yung mga pranksters na wag po nating gawing biro ang mga vlogs and pranks about sa paggawa ng krimen sapagkat yan ay may kaukulang parusa sa revised penal code article 153, ito po ay nagkakaroon ng kulong, may kulong po ang penalty dito na anim na taon,” Police Colonel Redrico Maranan, PNP Chief PIO, said.

(We are warning vloggers and pranksters that we should not turn crimes into laughing matters because there are penalties. In the revised penal code article 153, they might end up in prison. There is a penalty of six years in prison.)

The kidnapping prank video has 990,000 views on Facebook and almost 549,597 views on YouTube.

GMA Integrated News is still seeking the side of the vloggers.

The vloggers have been uploading prank videos on their social media platforms for some time. They said the videos were only for “good vibes.”

Let me end this piece by asking you readers: If you are a resident of Las Piñas City, what is your reaction to this development? Do you think that vloggers who organize and record pranks in public for the sake of attracting viewers are causing more trouble than good? Do you consider a prank in the form of a crime a serious disturbance of the peace?

You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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