THE Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) will ask Meta (formerly Facebook, Inc.) to take down “prank crime” videos made by a group of vloggers in Metro Manila, PNP Public Information Office chief, Colonel Redrico A. Maranan said on Tuesday.

“The PNP-ACG is closely watching the activities of these so-called Tukomi vloggers and will be coordinating with Facebook (Meta) to take down their videos where they are shown engaging in prank crimes,” said the official.

Maranan said that the Las Piñas City Police Station is also still waiting for the resolution of the initial criminal complaint recommended against the group of vloggers who were monitored to be “unrepentant” and are even allegedly “boasting” of making more similar videos in the future since they have some five million viewers.

“We are asking everybody not to engage in similar acts which tend to cause public chaos and confusion and, worse, end up in violence,” said the PNP-PIO chief.

He was referring to a “kidnapping prank” hatched by the said vloggers in Las Piñas City last April 6 which went awry after an off-duty agent of the PNP Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) confronted them at gunpoint, sending the social media personalities into a panic after realizing they might be shot by the officer.

It turned out that off-duty IMEG personnel, Staff Sergeant Ronnie Conmingo, was buying a construction item in a hardware store along Saging Street, Phase 2, Barangay CAA in Las Piñas City around 4 p.m. last April 6 when a black Toyota Vios suddenly stopped near him, and three of its occupants, all wearing black bonnets suddenly alighted from the vehicle.

The bonnet-wearing men quickly grabbed a man clad in a sando and short pants and dragged him inside their vehicle, prompting the 51-year-old Conmingo to identify himself as a cop while pulling out his service firearm.

“I thought I was witnessing a real kidnapping incident and have to do my duty to save the victim,” the policeman told the Journal Group in the vernacular.

He said that he was about to fire at the rear wheel of the suspects’ car when suddenly, one of the men who was about to enter the door beside the car driver shouted “Sir, this is just a prank” while raising his arms in surrender.

The other occupants of the car and another person taking a video of the incident also did the same thing and “asked for forgiveness” from the PNP-IMEG officer.

Conmingo said he won’t let the pranksters simply get away with their offense and sought the help of the Las Piñas City Police Station in filing criminal charges against the suspects.

Las Piñas City police chief, Colonel Jaime O. Santos, said that a criminal complaint for alarm and scandal was filed against the vloggers before the Office of the City Prosecutor last April 11.

The charged suspects, three members of the “Tukomi Vlog,” and two others remain at large.

The local police investigation showed that one of the suspects approached one volunteer “tanod” from their neighborhood and asked him to be a part of their “prank video.”

The tanod was identified as the one taking the video of the prank.

A bystander managed to take a video of the April 6 incident, which went viral after being uploaded on Facebook.

PNP-IMEG Director Brigadier General Warren F. De Leon commended Conmingo for doing his job as a policeman, although he was off-duty at that time.

“He displayed a good presence of mind and the proper stance and, in fact, did not fire a single shot at the first instance he confronted the pranksters,” he said.

De Leon said that PNP-IMEG personnel are regularly being given lectures on Police Operational Procedures, which include the things they should and should not do given a particular situation.

He added that the Las Piñas City incident should also serve as a lesson for vloggers and other persons playing a prank in public which tends to create panic and confusion.