NO ONE in their right mind would place a bounty on the head of the country’s leader on social media and expect to get away with it.
As to why anyone would do it in the first place, especially while the country is in the middle of a health crisis, is beyond me.
But that’s exactly what one man in Luzon did and one woman in Cordova, Cebu denied doing.
The former, a 25-year-old public school teacher from Zambales, posted on Twitter that he would give a P50-million reward to the person who would kill President Rodrigo Duterte.
Obviously a public school teacher in the Philippines would not have P50 million lying around for such an endeavor.
After his arrest, the perpetrator admitted that he was only clamoring for attention and apologized. Still, he will be charged with inciting sedition related to cybercrime and with violating the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
The latter, a 26-year-old woman, denied offering P75 million to anyone who executes the President on her Facebook account. She claimed her account was hacked when she was picked up in her house.
She said if she had written the post, she would not have used her real identity and address. Instead, she accused her former boyfriend whom she had broken up with in February for framing her.
At any rate, what happened to them only shows that posts on social media must be taken seriously.
As one local police official said, it’s no laughing matter. (By Peter J. Buencamino III)