Andronico Del Rosario
Pranks are usually seen as harmless and, at times, can bring laughs even to those being pranked. This one, however, didn’t that sit well with netizens.
On December 15, 2020, officers from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) and the Philippine Air Force (PAF) pulled off this prank on an unsuspecting pair of fastfood chain workers, hoping to bring them a bit of Christmas cheer.
Instead of getting cheers from the public, they were instead jeered for the stunt they pulled off.
CHAR LANGS!
An arrestoguinaldo prank was conducted by the members of the CCPO and Philippine Airforce this Tuesday…
Posted by SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, December 15, 2020
People have called out the CCPO and the PAF for the stunt, saying it wasn’t in the people’s best interest to be a “victim” of what they call “arrestoguinaldo”, a portmanteau on the words aresto or arrest and aguinaldo, which is what children normally receive from their godparents on Christmas.
Other netizens pointed out how “traumatized” one fastfood crew member was during the experience, possibly out of fear of being arrested for a quarantine violation.
Some saw the good intentions of the uniformed personnel, but still pointed out how traumatic it must have been for the fastfood crew.
In a report published by SunStar Cebu, the “arrestoguinaldo” prank is an annual affair done by Cebu City’s police officers, no doubt to inspire trust from the public as well as give out Christmas cheer.
However, with the threat of COVID-19 still very real and police officers being on national TV for violating quarantine protocols themselves, this may not have been the best season to pull it off.
