Returning OFW arrested for mid-air bomb threat

A 28-year-old returning seaman sowed mid-air panic and terror on a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Hong Kong yesterday afternoon when he suddenly declared the presence of a bomb in the plane.

Fortunately, the claims of Glenn Masayon, 28, that a bomb was inside a Boeing 747 of Cathay Pacific turned out to be a bad joke or just the hallucinations of a mentally disturbed overseas worker.

Superintendent Pablo Francisco Balagtas, chief of the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group’s 1st Police Center for Aviation Security, said there was tension among the 400 passengers of Flight CX 901 as well as members of the flight crew when Masayon, in the latter part of the Hong Kong to Manila flight, suddenly started muttering to himself.

Masayon then stood up from his economy class seat, declaring loudly that the plane had a bomb inside.

Passengers quoted Masayon as saying he was "going to press something that will make it explode." He also refused to give up the bag he was holding.

Flight attendants said word of Masayon’s claims spread through the plane, making even more passengers nervous.

However, the pilot crew ignored the news and brought the flight to a safe landing at the NAIA runway up to disembarkation Gate 7 at NAIA Terminal I at around 12:10 p.m.

Waiting PNP-ASG and Manila International Airport Authority Airport Police Department immediately took Masayon from the plane and hauled him handcuffed to the PNP-ASG office at the arrival area of NAIA I.

Retired Brig. Gen. Angel Atutubo, MIAA assistant general manager for emergency and security services, said the PNP-ASG immediately conducted a bomb check on the plane, which turned out negative for any explosives or bombs.

Atutubo said the man appeared to be mentally unstable, but would still be charged with alarm and scandal as well as grave threats.

Masayon, who remains detained at the 1st PCAS detention center pending the filing of the charges before the Pasay City prosecutor’s office.