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MANILA, Philippines – Quezon City prosecutors have suggested P72,000 as bail for a Grab driver who allegedly posted a threat against presidential bet Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr on Twitter. 

The Grab driver had supposedly threatened to shoot Marcos Jr after sharing on Twitter that he was “blocked” by Marcos Jr in 2016. 

The driver denied owning the Twitter account. 

Prosecutors approved charging the driver for supposedly committing grave threats in relation to the Cybercrime Law. The driver had been arrested and jailed – without a warrant – on April 1, Friday. 

Quezon City police said he had turned himself in to police, who in turn brought him in for inquest. 

Inquest is a process done for warrantless arrests to determine if it was lawful or not. 

In their April 1 release, Marcos Jr’s campaign had lauded Quezon City police for the “swift arrest” of the said Grab driver. 

The campaign quoted the Grab driver’s tweet but omitted the part that indicated he was supposedly blocked by Marcos Jr back 2016. The alleged tweet was made on March 15, 2022. 

Warrantless arrests are only valid if a person is caught committing the crime, there’s “probable cause” that the crime was committed, or the person is a fugitive on the run. 

A “continuing crime” posits that a crime does not end even when they are no longer committing the crime at the moment. 

Warrantless arrests for crimes like cyber libel inciting sedition, under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, are now seen as “continuing crimes.” 

The Grab driver would be the second person placed under arrest for allegedly plotting to harm Marcos. In February, a person who supposedly posted on TikTok about a plan to harm the dictator’s son was arrested, also without a warrant. – Rappler.com