A stone’s throw away

INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO

INCIDENTS earlier this week involving a man threatening to hurl a rock at the car of a female driver if she refuses to give him money (the man reportedly did hit the car, according to the driver), and that of another man throwing stones at motorists, are what a Congressional bill passed last year was partly seeking to deter by imposing stiff penalties on such acts.

On May 15, 2018 House Bill No. 7163, principally authored by Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, was unanimously approved on third and final reading after all 171 representatives present during the session voted in favor of the bill.

The bill penalizes any person who throws stones, rocks, bricks, bottles, pieces of wood or metal, or any other hard object, at a vehicle, in the process damaging it, or causing the death or bodily harm to its passengers.

Those found guilty shall be meted 25 years’ imprisonment and fined P100,000, in addition to civil liabilities if the act results in the death of a person in the vehicle. If it results in injury to a passenger of the vehicle, the offender can be imprisoned for five years and be fined P15,000, plus paying for the medical bills.

The offender can be imprisoned for a year and fined P10,000, plus shouldering repair costs, if the act damages the vehicle.

House Bill No. 7163 imposes stricter penalties to offenders who otherwise could only be charged with malicious mischief under Article 327 of the Revised Penal Code.

Both recent stone-throwing incidents happened on EDSA. The first one, which took place on June 27 and was captured in a video posted on social media by a certain Mane Teodoro, showed a man stopping a car on the innermost northbound lane of EDSA near Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City.

The other incident, which took place a day later, drew attention after Metropolitan Manila Development Authority EDSA Special Traffic and Transport Zone head Edison “Bong” Nebrija reported in a Facebook post that a man throwing stones at motorists passing through the Ortigas flyover was apprehended by the agency’s traffic enforcers. The act was caught on traffic cameras.