DAVAO CITY—The 18th City Council here passed on the third and final reading an ordinance prohibiting and penalizing the act of leaving a bag unattended in a public place, during the regular session on Tuesday.
The ordinance aims to address the threat of terrorism in the city by avoiding unattended bags or packages that may contain explosives and threaten the security of the city.
The ordinance has two prohibitions in determining that a person committed the offense:
1. Any person who carries then lays down an unattended bag in a public place and walks away from the same even without causing alarm and panic; and
2. Any person who carries then lay down an unattended bag in a public place and walks away from the same, and such act causes alarm and panic.
Under the first prohibition, a first offense will be given a warning, second offense will be charged with an administrative fine of P100 and P300 for the third offense.
For the second prohibition, first offense will be charged with P1,000, P3,000 for second offense, and P5,000 or a one-month imprisonment or both, at the discretion of the court, for the third offense.
Unattended bags will be confiscated and turned over to the police or the National Bureau of Investigation, the ordinance states. If the bag remains unclaimed within seven days, the same shall be disposed in accordance with existing laws.
The ordinance will take effect 15 days after its publication in two local newspapers.
While the council, made a committee consensus about the ordinance, Councilor Maria Belen Acosta questioned some of its provisions that according to her might burden innocent people.
“The caution is on why a neutral act such as leaving a bag unattended could be considered an offense per se even without a proper premise, even in circumstances that does not cause any disturbance to anybody,” Acosta said during her privilege speech.
Although she supports the move of the City Council to secure the city from any form of terrorism, Acosta still questioned why a mere act of leaving a bag can be punishable under the new ordinance of the city.
“I feel that making the act of leaving an unattended bag per se an offense under this ordinance, even when it does not cause any disturbance, might going too far,” she said.